Saviors
by Dancingqueen4Life
Summary: A look at the two people who saved Clint and Natasha's lives. Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

**So, I came up with an idea for yet another story. I promise, one of these days I will actually finish something. Maybe.  
I know I already have one kind of like this, but I think this one is different enough to be ok. Originally the idea came to me as taking place a few years down the road, but I decided if I just jumped in, a lot of confusion would result. So I decided to try it this way, hopefully it turns out ok.**

* * *

When everything was said and done, when the Demi-gods had returned to their planet, when the city had started to repair itself, when the Avengers were finally starting to get used to their new lives and new teammates, a new surprise popped into their lives.  
"Mama!"  
"Papa!"  
The team was in the conference room when two voices cut through the silence. A moment later, two girls, teenagers by the looks of it, came storming into the room, their expressions those of relief and a hint of anger.

"What's going on?" Bruce asked, not having expected two girls to show up in the middle of their briefing.  
"No idea. But there's only one person in this room who could be called 'Mama', which means Spidey's got a kid. Or two, more likely." Tony stage whispered.  
"Wait, Barton and Romanoff are married?" Steve put in, clearly confused by the situation.  
The assassins in question showed no notice of their teammates' conversation, instead giving each other identical looks of dread. Finally, once the two girls were standing in front of them, Natasha spoke.  
"Ria? Liza? What are you girls doing here?"  
"What are we doing here? We saw the news!" One of the girls exclaimed.  
"Maria called us." The other added. "Is it true about Phil?"  
"I'm afraid so, hun." Clint answered.  
The girl nodded, eyes filling with tears. The other girl, her sister presumably, wrapped an arm around her and held her tightly.  
"I really hate to interrupt this," Tony said, earning a look from Natasha that clearly said she doubted the validity of his statement, "but what the hell is going on here? And, more importantly, who are they?" He asked, pointing to the two girls.

After exchanging a glance, Natasha and Clint pulled out two more chairs and gestured for the girls to sit. Once they'd complied, Natasha and Clint turned back to the three other people in the room.  
"Their names are Zaria Romanoff and Eliza Barton." Natasha started, pointing to the girls respectively.  
"What, you two couldn't agree on a last name?" Tony interrupted.  
Natasha glared at him, but continued. She pointed at Zaria, an almost carbon copy of Natasha, just a little younger, "Not biologically Clint's." Next she pointed at Eliza, a pretty girl with tanned skin, pitch black hair, and Clint's gray-blue eyes, "Not biologically related to me."  
"Huh?" Steve asked.  
"In answer to your earlier question," Clint said, taking over, "Yes, Natasha and I are married. We have been for the last 5 years."  
"So you both had kids before you were married." Steve said, trying to understand how the world had changed this much.  
"Yes." Natasha answered easily.  
"But with other people?" Steve continued.  
"In a manner of speaking." Clint supplied.  
"How old are you girls?" Bruce asked.  
"15." Zaria responded.  
"15 in two weeks." Eliza said.  
"So you were born before your parents met?"  
"Yes."  
"Zaria. That's Russian, isn't it?" Bruce asked again.  
"It is." Natasha answered. "She was born in Russia."  
"And Eliza?" Steve asked.  
"Small town in California." Eliza supplied.

There was silence for a short while before Steve spoke again.  
"I'm sorry, I'm still confused. I get the whole you had kids before meeting each other thing, but neither of your files have anything about children in them."  
"And it damn well better stay that way." Clint said, his hands coming to rest protectively on Eliza and Zaria's shoulders.  
"Our files don't say half the things they probably should." Natasha added, her fingers absently stroking her daughter's hair.  
"So does that mean your arrival at SHIELD didn't happen like the report said?" Steve asked.  
"It does."  
"So how did that actually happen?"  
"It's a long story." Clint said, unsure of whether or not to dig up the past.  
"Fury wants us to get to know each other. I'd say this is pretty important." Tony said.  
The assassins exchanged another look, and then another with their daughters. once they all seemed to agree, Natasha headed for the doors, calling the Avengers to follow her out of the room.

They ended up in one of the many common areas in the tower, and after sitting on the couch between her daughters with Clint on the other side of Eliza, Natasha motioned for the others to sit on the empty couch and arm chair. Once they were situated, Natasha took a deep breath and began.  
"I was born in Russia in 1982..."

* * *

**That's it for the first chapter! I'm going to do this story as kind of a flashback thing, with the chapters alternating between Natasha and Clint's lives before they found each other, and possibly continuing on to after Natasha joins SHIELD.  
Reviews are wonderful. YOu should write one. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry it's been so long since I updated! I was out of town and didn't have any time to write anything. I hope this makes it up to you guys though.  
I know it might be a little confusing at first, but please stick with it, it will all come together wonderfully.**

* * *

"Do you really have to leave, Natalia?"  
"You know I do, Lena. It's not safe for either of you if I'm here for more than a day at a time."  
"And what about you? Is it safe for you to go back there?"  
"You know I don't have a choice, Lena."  
"That's a lie and you know it. You've managed to come every other weekend for a year now. If you wanted to leave, you could have."  
"You don't think I know that?" Natalia hissed, shooting a glance to where her daughter sat playing. "You don't think I know that I should be taking her and running? But I can't, Yelena. It's not safe, not yet."  
"It will never be safe, not if you inset on returning."  
"But if I leave now, they'll come after me. They're already getting suspicious. But if she stays here with you, at least they don't really know about her. She'll still be safe."  
"And what do you think it's doing to her when she only gets to see you for a day every once in a while? How do you think that's healthy, Natalia?"  
"It's not, but it's the best I can do! Don't you think it tears me up that I only get a little bit of time with her, and that it always takes her a while to remember me? But I can't bring her back there, or we'll both be killed."  
Yelena sighed, but before she could respond, a small hand tugged on the bottom of Natalia's pants. When Natalia looked down, she was met with her daughter's sad eyes.  
"What do you need, Zaria?" Natalia asked kindly.  
"Mama leaving soon?" She asked.  
Natalia sighed and picked up the 2-year-old.  
"I am. I have to go back to work, and you have to stay here."  
"With Нана?"  
"Yes, with Nana."  
"Why?"  
"Because, Zaria, my work is too dangerous for you to be around. You need to stay here and play with Nana Lena."  
"But I want you."  
Natalia was fighting back tears as she held her daughter close. "I know, I want you too. I want to be here with you, but I can't, not yet. Some day, when it's safe."  
"Pwomise, Mama." Zaria said, her expression stern.  
"I promise, Zaria."

The little girl nodded and buried her face in Natalia's neck.  
"Don't start, Lena." Natalia said when she saw the older woman's mouth open.  
Yelena closed her mouth and smiled. Natalia held her daughter closer for just a moment, pressing a kiss to her temple.  
"I love you, Zaria. Be good please. I'll see you soon."  
"I love Mama too." Zaria whispered, and it killed Natalia when she realized Zaria didn't really associate her with being her mother.  
After a final kiss, Natalia handed Zaria over to Yelena, and they followed her to the door. She stepped out into the cool spring air and shivered slightly as she pulled her coat back on. She always let her guard down when she visited her daughter and it took a little while for her training to take over her mind again.  
When she got to the gate she looked over her shoulder and her heart broke again. Yelena and Zaria were both crying, tears rolling down their cheeks. When Zaria saw Natalia turn around, she hid her face in Yelena's neck, refusing to watch as her mother walked away again.  
Yelena held the girl tightly, knowing it was doing more harm than good to allow the little girl to see her mother for this short time period, but she couldn't bring herself to stop it. Not when she knew how happy it made both of them, and she knew that for a 16 year-old, Natalia was doing the best she could, especially given her crappy situation.  
Natalia blew one last kiss before turning and walking into the forest, already coming up with a viable explanation for her late return from a mission. She knew their routine couldn't continue, it was too dangerous. If the Red Room found out that she'd been pregnant, it would mean automatic death for the both of them, and Yelena too, most likely. She knew Ivan would enjoy that, knew that even if she was his favorite, he would love the opportunity to get rid of her.  
Natalia pulled her coat around her body more tightly and continued walking back to the base, hoping to arrive by nightfall with a realistic story ready to go.

* * *

"Wait, wait, hold on." Tony said, interrupting Natasha's recollection.  
"What, Stark?" She asked.  
"You went from being taken by the Red Room when you were four to suddenly having a two-year-old when you were 16. That's 12 years unaccounted for!"  
"I can only tell you what happened for about 6 of those years, and even that might be made up. I had my memories taken from me, and I was taught to kill or be killed. I killed 218 people by the time I learned I was pregnant."  
"But you said the Red Room would kill you if they learned you had a kid. How did you hide it from them, especially when you were pregnant?" Steve asked.  
Natasha sighed. She hated telling this part, it always made her feel like a horrible mother. Zaria leaned into Natasha's side and smiled when her mother started combing through her bright red curls with her fingers.  
"When I learned I was pregnant, I was fourteen. I'd been on a mission and had gotten sick. Things were _off_ with my body, but I didn't really know what that meant, until I got my hands on a test. I knew I was dead if I went back in that condition, so I ran.  
"Yelena found me in the woods a few days later. I hadn't eaten or showered in a few days, and she took me in. She let me stay with her a few days, and managed to get me to tell her everything. She decided I would stay with her until the baby was born, and for some time after that.  
"After I had Zaria, my focus went into making myself look like I spent over a year being tortured. When she turned 4 months old, I stopped eating- except for a piece of bread and a glass of water in the morning, and a small dinner on Sundays. I stayed with Lena until the day after Zaria turned a year old. That was when we agreed on my visiting every other weekend."  
"She sounds like a marvelous woman." Bruce said.  
"She was only doing it because the day after she took me in I found out that her only granddaughter was in the Red Room and blackmailed her into caring for Zaria." Natasha said.  
"Mama." Zaria scolded. "You know that's not true."  
"It was at the beginning, Ria. She told me herself. It was only after my first night gone, when you couldn't stop crying, that she realized she'd begun to care about you. She's the one who tried to make me stop seeing you."  
"I know. But I still love her. She could have treated me horribly, but she didn't. She took care of me and sang to me when I was sad."  
Natasha didn't respond, choosing instead to wrap her arms around her daughter and hold her close.  
"I'm so sorry, Ria." She whispered. "It never should have happened like that. You deserved better than that."  
"Don't apologize, Mama. We've talked about this before. You were 14 when I was born, there wasn't anything you could do besides go back. You did what you could, and I love you for it. You made sure I was safe."  
"And how did that work out?" Natasha asked bitterly.  
"Wait, what now?" Tony asked.  
"Well-"  
"No, stop." Clint said.  
"Clint? What's wrong?" Natasha asked.  
"You've shared part of your story, now it's my turn."  
Natasha, Zaria, and Eliza laughed, while the rest of the team looked confused.  
"Alright, Birdbrain. Let's hear your story."  
"From the beginning?"  
"No, Papa please." Eliza said. "I hate listening to the beginning. Start from our beginning instead, it's much nicer. Besides, Mama didn't tell all her depressing crap, and we all know you can't edit to save your life. Which means you can't talk about your childhood."  
"Liza, honey, our beginning still falls under my childhood." Clint reminded her.  
"It was your teens. Just get on with the story, Papa."  
"Alright, fine."  
Clint wrapped his arm around Eliza's shoulders and pulled her into his side while he got comfortable on the arm of the couch. He took a deep breath and began speaking.  
"I'll start right after I killed my brother. No, Stark, I won't talk about that, not when Eliza and Zaria are around me. Anyway, after he died, I was lost. I hadn't considered him my brother for years prior to that, but still, he was dead because of me. I was approached by a very wealthy man, and he used my grief against me. He turned me into the leader of his own personal group of mercenaries, and I began killing anyone he paid me to..."

* * *

**There's the first part of the story. I think I'll do a bit of their stories, and get the team's reactions to it. Also, I know Clint was in the military (unless that's wrong in which case this is irrelevant) but for the purposes of this story, he wasn't. Unless it was when he was like 15 or something. But it wasn't.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Alright, here's chapter 3. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Barton."  
"Yes, Sir?"  
"We're arriving in a few minutes. Do you remember your job?"  
"I do, Sir."  
"Good. Don't screw up."  
Clint nodded to his employer, even if the man could see him. He turned off the radio and used his last few minutes to prepare himself. It was an easy job, really. He just needed to blow up a building holding stashes of drugs that were being used by one of his boss' enemies. He'd even been given a few explosive arrow tips, despite the fact that everyone knew he never missed.

When he stepped out of his truck, he was in the middle of one of the smallest towns he'd ever seen. He was somewhere in California, but he couldn't begin to remember what the town was called, or any of the major cities around it. That wasn't important anyway.  
After grabbing his bow and quiver, he quickly scaled one of the taller buildings across from the warehouse he'd be blowing up. He looked around a bit to ensure his cover hadn't been blown, and he was able to make out the trucks with his (unnecessary) backup. He also noticed that the warehouse was scarily close to the houses in town, but he knew the explosion wouldn't be big enough to do any real damage.  
He got his bow ready and pulled back the bowstring and centered himself, just as Trickshot had taught him. He let out a breath and released the arrow at the same time, feeling satisfied when it sailed through the air and hit his target dead on with what he assumed was a quiet _thunk_.

He quickly lowered himself from the roof and began racing toward his truck. When he'd cleared the blast zone, he hit a button on his bow that would cause the arrow tip to explode.  
What he hadn't counted on was the explosion triggering other explosions that destroyed all the houses.  
_Holy shit!_ CLint thought as he scrambled to make a decision. In that moment, he knew his boss had lied to him. That he'd been manipulating him from day one.  
Before he could really say what he was doing, Clint was running toward the houses, desperate to see if anyone had managed to survive. The first few houses were completely gone, and the people in the next several were all dead. About halfway through searching the houses he could, Clint heard sirens in the distance and knew he had to get out. He kicked down the closest door and ran inside, his elbow covering his mouth as smoke still managed to fill the air. _Oh, that's why. Building's on fire._ He thought to himself. He was about to leave when he heard a coughing coming from the back room. He ran toward the sound and found a woman lying on the floor.  
He had no idea how she was still making noise, not when she looked like that. Clint was about to turn away, when she called out to him.  
"Please, help me."  
Clint went to her side and knelt by her, noting that she had very pretty dark hair and light blue eyes.  
"There's nothing I can do, ma'am. If I tried to save you, I'd do more damage." He knew he was right, there was a beam lying on her legs, and if he tried moving it, he could potentially kill her.  
"Not me. My baby girl."  
"What?" Clint asked, shocked.  
"She's upstairs, sleeping. She's only a little thing, not even 2 yet, not until next week."  
Clint just stared at her in shock. He'd known kids lived here, but it hadn't really hit him until that moment that he was responsible for their deaths.  
"Please. Take her and run. Please take her away from here. Even if you don't keep her, please, get her to safety. She's all I have left. Please, help her."  
The woman began coughing again, and Clint nodded. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it once. The absence of a returning squeeze wasn't lost on him as he pushed himself up and ran from the room, up the stairs. As he stepped onto the landing, he heard a crying from one of the rooms and ran toward it. He slammed open the door and was hit by how loud the child was. He ran to the crib and picked her up, trying to get her to stop crying.  
After a minute or two, she finally stopped, and Clint could hear the sirens getting even closer. He'd figured out that his boss had also set him up, probably as revenge for Clint's refusal to kill two parents in front of their kids a month ago.

He held the little girl tightly in one arm while he frantically searched the room. His eyes landed on a bag and he grabbed it quickly, walking to the dresser where he grabbed some clothes and shoved them inside. He was about to leave the room when his eyes landed on a stuffed bunny and a pink blanket. He looked down and saw the girl looking pointedly at them, so he reached out and grabbed them as well. He handed her the bunny and tucked the blanket around her, making sure her mouth was covered so she wouldn't inhale any smoke. He caught her attention and held his pointer finger to his lips in the universal sign for quiet and prayed she would understand. When she didn't make a noise, he took that as agreement and carried her from the room and down the stairs. The house was still burning, but Clint had seen the door to the garage when he'd been running to find her mother.  
He was so consumed with finding the keys to the car he figured had her car seat in it that he didn't notice the odd blue-gray color of her eyes, or the fact that her tears had dried and she was looking at him with interest.  
He finally located the keys and unlocked the door, hurriedly buckling the little girl into her seat before tossing the bag on the seat next to her and climbing into the front seat. He jammed the keys into the ignition and started the car, backing it out of the garage once he got the door opened.

"Hang on, Kid. We're going to do some tricky driving." He said as he peeled off down the street, not feeling the littlest hint of guilt that he didn't have time to check for other survivors. There was something about this girl, and her mother begging with him, that made him feel like she was the one his boss had been after.

He managed to get out of town just as the police arrived to block it off, grateful the small-town cops were too busy to worry about chasing down a car they recognized as belonging to someone from the area.  
Once they were on the road, Clint spared a glance at the girl in the rear view mirror.  
"If you're nearly 2, shouldn't you be talking?"  
The girl only looked at him, blinking. She finally turned her head to the side and watched as the smoke cloud that had been her home faded into the distance.  
They drove for a while, until they'd entered Arizona. He figured they'd be ok for a little bit here, since no one really went to Arizona for much of anything.  
"Globe sure is a weird name for a town, don't you think, kid?" He asked as they pulled off the 60. The girl's silence was expected but it still unnerved Clint, as did her peculiar eye color- since it was so close to his own.  
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were my kid. But that would mean I'd gotten lucky in the not too distant past, and sadly that's not true."  
They finally pulled up at a roadside hotel and Clint stopped the car. He went to the backseat and started unbuckling the little girl.  
"I hate to tell you, kid, but I'm not going to be able to keep you with me for much longer. I'm almost positive I killed your family, and the guilt would eat me alive. Also, I don't have a very kid-friendly lifestyle. So I'll find a safe place for you, somewhere you'll be taken care of."  
The girl's only response was a small shiver, and Clint realized suddenly that it was March, and even in Arizona the girl's leggings and short sleeved shirt wouldn't keep her warm. He grabbed the bag and opened it, sighing in frustration when he realized he hadn't grabbed a jacket for her.  
"This'll have to make do." He said, holding up her pink blanket. It was soft and he could tell the sight of it made her feel slightly better. He lifted her out of her seat and stood her up on the bench seat in the car and wrapped the blanket around her and her stuffed bunny. As he was finishing, something on the blanket caught his eye.  
"Eliza. Is that your name?" He asked, his voice going soft for the first time.  
The little girl didn't speak, but she nodded.  
"It's very pretty. My aunt's name was Eliza. She was a sweet lady."  
Eliza just looked at him as she stood on the car seat. Clint sighed and chuckled as he grabbed the bag and slung it over his shoulder before leaning in and picking her up again.  
"You know you're allowed to talk again, right?" He asked quietly.  
Eliza nodded again, but didn't speak.  
"Ok, suit yourself."  
He pulled her from the car and shut the door behind him, locking it before going into the main building where he got a room under a fake name and paid in cash. After receiving the key he turned and walked out, nearly bumping into another person.  
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" He exclaimed.  
"No, it was my fault." The woman replied. "I wasn't paying attention."  
Clint smiled at her friendly tone, and she returned the gesture.  
"Passing through?" She asked conversationally, forgetting she'd been on her way to get something.  
"Yeah."  
"Me too. Where are you from?"  
"California." Clint said, thinking quickly. "But I was born in Iowa."  
"I see. And is this your daughter?" She asked, glancing at Eliza.  
"Yeah." Clint said, deciding lying would get him in a lot less trouble.  
"She's cute. What's her name?"  
"Eliza."  
"Lovely. Well, I've held you up long enough, I bet your wife is waiting."  
"I'm single, actually." Clint replied.  
"Oh! So her mother is...?"  
"She died recently. I didn't know I had a kid until I got a call that an old girlfriend had died and I needed to come pick up my daughter."  
"Oh, you poor thing."  
"There wasn't much else I could do." Clint said with a shrug.  
"Oh, of course not!" The woman agreed. "Well, if you need any help with anything while you're here, let me know. I'm staying in 103."  
"Thanks..."  
"Melissa."  
"Clint."  
"Pleasure."  
"It is. Listen, I'd hate to cut this short, but I want to see if I can get her to sleep..."  
"I completely understand. My son was an absolute nightmare if her didn't get his naps. Please, don't let me keep you. And remember, I'm in 103 if you need anything."  
"Thank you. Really, thank you."  
Melissa smiled at him as she turned and entered the main building, having finally remembered what she needed. Clint waited until she was inside before turning and walking to his room on the second floor.  
When he entered he flipped on the light and sighed. Eliza was starting to fall asleep in his arms, so he walked over to the bed and laid her down, adjusting her blanket.  
While she slept he busied himself by coming up with a plan. There was a diner they could go to for dinner, and then they'd leave. He'd try to be in Nevada by the next afternoon, and then into Utah. He wanted to get as far east as possible before someone put two and two together and discovered that he'd taken her from a town he'd blown up. He'd find a fire station or police station to leave Eliza at, with a note explaining what he could. Then he'd try to get out of the country.

He was in the middle of figuring out which roads to take when a quiet knock at the door caught his attention. He stood up carefully and made sure that Eliza was still sleeping before he opened the door. He didn't check the peep hole, figuring it was Melissa coming to tell him something.  
He was wrong.  
When he opened the door, he was met with an average sized man in a suit and a pair of dark sunglasses.  
"Can I help you?" Clint asked.  
"Clint Barton?" The man asked.  
"No. My name is James Sherwood."  
"Is that so? Because I'm almost positive that you're Clint Barton and that you're responsible for a small town being destroyed."  
Clint paled as he held the door open enough for the man to enter.  
"Smart decision."  
Clint closed the door and locked it. "If you're here to arrest me, forget about it. I'm done with all of that."  
"Oh, are you now?"  
"Yeah. I was played. I had no idea the entire town would be destroyed."  
"That's nice."  
"Who are you?"  
"I'm Agent Coulson."  
"What kind of agent?"  
"I'm from the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."  
"That's a mouthful."  
"We're working on it."  
"What do you want?"  
"You."  
"I'm sorry?"  
"I want you. Well, _we_ want you. But they want to arrest you, whereas I want to bring you in, have you work for us."  
"So this is pity?"  
"Of course not. This is you planning to run." He gave the maps on the table a meaningful look before turning back to Clint. "And me offering you a place to run to."  
"And if I say no?"  
"If you say no I'll leave, but I won't promise not to return. You'll be seeing a lot of me if you decline."  
"Is that so?"  
"It is. Are you taking the girl with you?"  
"No, I can't take care of her. I'm going to find a fire station or something and leave her with them."  
Before Agent Coulson could reply, Eliza started whimpering, drawing their attention. Clint went to the bed and picked her up, rubbing circles on her back.  
"Shh, Eliza. You're safe now, I promise." He whispered.  
Eliza buried her face in his neck and grabbed a fistful of his shirt.  
"It looks to me like you can take care of her." The agent said once she'd quieted down.  
Clint just shot him a look, causing the agent to shrug.  
"It really is up to you." He reached into his jacket and Clint tensed, until Coulson brought his hand out and held out a business card to him.  
"This is SHIELD's number. Keep it somewhere safe. After a week, burn it. If you haven't made up your mind by then, I'll know. You'll get another one, I'm sure."  
"I'm not going to call some government agency when you've just told me they want to arrest me."  
"Good point." Agent Coulson took the card back and scribbled something onto the back. He handed it back to Clint, who turned it over and saw another phone number.  
"That's my cell phone number. Call that if you change your mind."  
With that, Agent Coulson unlocked the door and stepped out. Before he closed the door, he turned around.  
"I read about your past, Barton. I'm willing to bet my job that you won't be able to give that little girl to someone else. At least, not until you figure out why your eyes are so damned similar."  
Before Clint could reply, Coulson shut the door, leaving Clint standing there, holding Eliza in one arm and Coulson's business card in the other.  
He turned to the little girl and found her staring at him. "What do you think, Liza? Should I do it? He's right, I'm not going to be able to give you to someone else. Not when I'm the reason you don't have anyone else."  
Eliza didn't reply, choosing to just stare at him instead.  
"I'm glad you're a quiet kid, but I really need help here. Should I take that man's offer? Or should we go on the run?"  
For a few minutes Eliza said nothing. Clint sighed and was about to start walking back to the bed to lie down and think about it when she reached up and placed her hand on his cheek.  
Clint froze and looked at her in surprise.  
"Papa." Eliza whispered, leaning close. "My Papa."  
She leaned in a little more and kissed his cheek, smiling when he looked at her again.  
Clint's throat tightened and he felt tears prickle in his eyes as he looked at her, and he knew exactly what he as going to do. He walked to the bed and sat down, allowing Eliza to get comfortable. He reached over and grabbed the phone by the bed, dialing the number on the back of the business card.  
Two rings later, a voice answered him.  
"I'm surprised it took you this long, Barton."  
"Does your offer still stand?"  
"It does."  
"And Eliza?"  
"The little girl you saved?"  
"If that's what you want to call it."  
"It is. Your boss was after her, but we don't know why."  
"I'll kill him. But what about her?"  
"I'm assuming you're going to keep her. We can help with that."  
"Are you being serious."  
"I am. People may not take kindly to you at first, but I know they'll take to you in time."  
"Alright."  
"I'll pick you up tomorrow afternoon."  
"And then?"  
"And then you'll be the youngest recruit in history. Assuming you've just turned 18 like all our intel suggests."  
"That's right."  
"Ok, then."  
Coulson hung up and Clint looked at the phone with confusion.  
"That man's weird, Liza." He said.  
The little girl nodded and Clint chuckled as he laid down on the be and shifted her so she was lying on his chest.

* * *

"So Eliza isn't your daughter?" Steve asked.  
"Not biologically." Clint replied.  
"But she is in every way that counts." Natasha said gently, resting her hand on Clint's.  
"But only because he killed her family."  
"I don't remember them. I wasn't even two yet. He's the one who raised me into the person I am today, not them. He's my family. Any notions to the contrary will result in physical harm." Eliza said menacingly.  
The team looked worried, but Clint, Natasha, and Zaria laughed.  
"She's kidding, honestly. She could kill you, but she'd feel really bad about it." Zaria said, shooting Eliza a smile.  
"So you took her and ran, and Agent found you." Tony said, ignoring Zaria's comment.  
"Basically."  
"What happened after that? I can't imagine Fury was happy with you." Bruce said.  
"He wasn't. But that will have to wait until I've said what happened once I returned to the Red Room." Natasha said.  
"And that's my cue to leave." Zaria said, standing up from the couch and leaving the room. Eliza kissed Clint and Natasha's cheeks and followed Zaria from the room.  
"What was that?"  
"The next bit happened when she was 5, and she doesn't like remembering it."  
"You're cutting out three years!"  
"I can sum it up for you now. I went back, had new memories shoved into my head, went out and killed people, had other memories made up for me, killed more people. I visited my daughter every other weekend, until that got to risky and I had to cut it down to once a month. And before you ask, no, she didn't take it well.  
"I'd just gotten back from celebrating her 5th birthday when everything went to shit..."

* * *

**There's the next bit! I hope you guys liked it! Let me know if you have any theories about Clint and Eliza, or what happens during the next bit of Natasha's story.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	4. Chapter 4

"Do you know why you're here, Natalia?" Ivan asked.  
"No."  
"No, what?"  
"No, Sir."  
"Are you sure? There's nothing you can think of, nothing you've left out?"  
"No, Sir." Natalia replied, voice quiet.  
She was sitting across from him in his office, her head down as she looked at her lap. Ivan sighed and she heard him stand up and walk around his desk. He came to a stop in front of her and used his fingers to bring her head up to look at him.  
"Walk with me, Natalia." He said before he turned away.  
Natalia followed him from the room and down the hall. She was able to tell after a few moments that he was taking her to the detention chambers, no doubt to see a new captor.  
When they entered, two men came up behind Natalia and grabbed her arms before she could stop them. Ivan stepped in front of her and stared at her.  
"Are you sure there's nothing you want to tell me, sweet girl?"  
"Nothing, Sir." She replied, still confused.  
"I see. Perhaps, this will change your mind."  
With that, Ivan walked over to a wall and pressed a few buttons. Immediately, one of the walls became transparent and Natalia was able to see into the room. At the same time, she heard the little girl in the room cry out in pain.  
"Mama!"  
"No." Natalia said in shock, more to herself than to anyone else.  
"Oh, yes. Did you really think you could keep her from us, dear Natalia?"

Natalia couldn't take her eyes off her daughter. There was a man in the room with her, Alek no doubt. As Natalia watched, he pulled his arm back and punched her in the stomach.  
"What are you doing to her?!" Natalia cried, feeling the hit in her own stomach.  
"Training her, Natalia. I must say, I'm a little surprised you haven't been training her. You were much farther along by the time you were her age."  
"Leave her alone!" Natalia shrieked as she tried to run at Ivan, but the men holding her arms jerked her back, causing her to wince slightly in pain.  
"Tell me, Natalia, did you really think we wouldn't find out about her? What possessed you to think you could keep something like this hidden?"  
"I didn't have a choice!"  
"You know you could have come to me. Instead, you proved yourself to be the slut we knew you were."  
"I didn't have a choice! If I'd come back and told you, or anybody, you would have killed us both! I didn't want it, but I couldn't do anything else!"  
"That's not true Natalia. We would have helped you."  
"I was 14! I was alone and I was scared. I didn't know what to do!"  
"And that, sweet girl, was your mistake."  
Natalia watched as Zaria was punched again. She heard her daughter crying out for her, but there was nothing she could do. She didn't have the fight in her to break free of the men's grip.  
"Stop hurting her! She's just a child!" Natalia cried again, agony clear in her voice.  
"Ah, but she'd your child. She should be stronger than this. Are you forgetting that you were punished in a similar manner?"  
"But she didn't do anything wrong!"  
"Be that as it may, you did."  
"Please. Stop hurting her."  
"I don't think I will."  
Natalia couldn't hold back her sobs any longer. She was incapable of crying, but the noises being ripped from her mouth were unmistakably sobs.  
"Tell me, Natalia, do you love your child?"  
"Yes!"  
"And what are you willing to do for her?"  
"Anything!"  
"Would you die for her?"  
"Yes."  
"Would you kill her if it ended her suffering?"  
"What?"  
"Answer the question, Natalia. Would you kill your daughter, if it meant she wouldn't have to die a slow and painful death?"  
"I-I-"  
"Perhaps you need some incentive." Ivan took out his gun and held it out to Natalia. "Either you kill her now, or we torture her until she dies. The choice is completely up to you."  
"What?"  
"You heard me."  
"I do _not_ kill children." Natalia spat.  
"Oh, But I think you do. You'll kill whoever I tell you to, won't you, dear?"  
Natalia chose not to answer him, staring daggers instead. If looks could kill, Ivan would have been on the floor, incapable of harming another person.  
"I'll give you the night to think on it." He stated simply.  
With that, Ivan went over to the control panel and pushed the button for the intercom.  
"That's enough for now, Alek. Our little lady has a visitor."  
Ivan turned back to Natalia and motioned for the men to let her go.  
"I'll allow you to sleep with her tonight, Natalia. But I want your decision in the morning. You should be happy I'm being this generous."  
"You're a monster." Natalia spat.  
"Indeed I am. It was high time you learned that lesson, Natalia."  
Alek stepped out of the room, and Ivan signaled for all the men to follow him from the area, leaving Natalia alone, still holding Ivan's gun. She continued to stare at it until she heard Zaria's sobs from the room.  
Natalia went to the control panel and pressed a button that caused the wall to lose its transparency and made the noises from the room disappear. When she was done, she walked to the door and took a deep breath before opening it.  
She looked inside and found her daughter curled into herself as much as possible in the corner farthest from the door.  
"Zaria?" Natalia whispered.  
"Please don't hurt me." The little girl whimpered.  
"Oh, my baby girl, I could never hurt you."  
Zaria looked up and watched with fear in her eyes as Natalia carefully made her way across the room and crouched in front of her.  
"Mama?"  
"I'm so sorry, Zaria. I never meant for this to happen." Natalia said as she gingerly stroked Zaria's hair.  
"I'm cold, Mama." Zaria whispered.  
Natalia nodded and pulled her daughter into her arms before situating herself in the corner, making sure Ivan's gun was close at hand. Zaria tucked her face into Natalia's shoulder as her mother stroked her hair.  
"What's going to happen, Mama?"  
"I don't know. I have absolutely no idea." Natalia murmured.  
Zaria nodded slightly and wiggled closer to Natalia. Natalia simply held her daughter tightly and rocked her gently as she fell asleep.

A while later, although Natalia couldn't tell how long, the door opened. Instinctively, Natalia had the gun up and pointed at the person's head before they were completely in the room.  
"Whoa there, Talia." The man said, his hands coming up by his face in the universal signal that he meant no harm.  
"What do you want?" She asked coldly.  
"I heard you got in trouble with Pops."  
"So you came to rub it in?"  
"Don't you know me better than that?"  
"I don't know."  
"So this is the cause of all your trouble." He said, gesturing to Zaria.  
"If you want to look at it that way."  
"Who does she belong to?"  
"Me."  
"Talia." He whispered. "You know what I mean."  
"So?"  
"How old is she?"  
Natalia sighed. There was no way to make him leave unless she answered his questions.  
"She turned 5 yesterday."  
"Shit. Rough way to spend a birthday."  
Natalia shrugged, waiting to see if he was smart enough to do the math.  
"Wait a minute." There it was. "5 years. Wasn't that... Shit, Talia. Is she mine?"  
"No. She's mine."  
"Natalia." He warned. "Am I her father?"  
"Yes."  
"From when we were married."  
"You know dammed well we were never married."  
"Oh, Talia."  
"Why are you even here?"  
"I want to help you."  
Natalia laughed bitterly. "I don't need your help."  
"Are you sure?" He asked skeptically.  
"I'm positive, Shostakov."  
"Ouch, last name. Fine, Romanova. I'm here to help."  
"I just said I didn't need your help."  
"You don't, but she does."  
"I can take care of her."  
"Really? Because from what I've heard you've both received your death sentences."  
"It's better than being here. I won't kill my daughter, Alexei."  
"I wouldn't expect you to."  
"Really, why are you here?"  
"Remember our single mission as a married couple?"  
"Yes." Natalia said, unsure of where he was taking this.  
"We're going to do the same thing."  
"You'll get yourself killed."  
"It'll be worth it if she's safe."

Natalia stared at him for a long moment.  
"Why do you care? You were the one who made girls like this. Why is she different to you?"  
"I like the idea of my daughter living. Being out there in the world."  
"She will _never_ be like you." Natalia hissed.  
"And I don't want her to be."  
Alexei looked Natalia over for a moment before speaking. "You were always my favorite, you know."  
"I was also Ivan's favorite. Fat lot of good it did me." She spat.  
"No, you were Ivan's favorite because of your looks. I liked you because you were feisty. You knew what you had to do to survive, and you never hesitated to do it."  
"What's your point?"  
"My point is, I hope she's like that. I hope she gets out of here somehow and manages to have a life where she's allowed to be a kid."  
Natalia just stared at him, waiting for him to continue. Finally, he did.  
"I never wanted to be the bad guy, you know. I was recruited, same as you. I was Ivan's favorite once. The main difference between you and I is that you were strong enough to break through. You knew how to keep some control. They stopped brainwashing you because they knew it wouldn't stick. They stopped brainwashing me because they thought I was loyal."  
"You did a pretty good job convincing them."  
Alexei shrugged but didn't comment.  
"So what's your plan? You gonna get my hopes up and then turn us in?"  
"No. I've got your escape route planned. The two of you are going to disappear tonight."  
"What?"  
"I mean it. We have 34 seconds before the camera's blind spot is here, that's when you leave. You know this building like the back of your hand. Once you get out of the detention level, just keep hitting blind spots until you're out."  
Natalia stared at him as he explained. Finally, he'd had enough and pulled her to her feet. Natalia was too shocked to even think about how close he was.  
"Keep her safe." He whispered.  
Before she could say anything, Alexei leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Zaria's head. He grabbed Ivan's gun and put it in Natalia's hand as she resituated the sleeping girl.  
"3 seconds, Talia. Do me proud."  
Natalia nodded once before she started running through the facility, bouncing from blind spot to blind spot. Zaria woke up just before they reached the gate where Alexei had cut a hole for them, and Natalia pushed her ahead, while making sure she stayed quiet.  
She knew the chances of Alexei double crossing them were huge, but she also knew that no one would go out searching for them, not at near midnight in the middle of a Russian winter. She scrambled behind her daughter and pulled her into her arms again, before she took off running.

She passed a tree Alexei had taken her to for training countless times and saw a small bag. Upon closer inspection, she found that it contained jackets for both her and Zaria, as well as some food and water. At the bottom was a note in Alexei's familiar handwriting.  
_You were my favorite because you always fought to survive. Don't ever stop._  
Natalia shoved the note back in the bag and slung it over her shoulder before bundling Zaria into her jacket and pulling her own on. As soon as she was done, she lifted her daughter off the ground and they took off again.  
"Did they find Lena?" Natalia whispered.  
"Yes. They took her away. I don't know where, but I heard a gunshot."  
Natalia cursed softly in Italian, ensuring that her daughter wouldn't understand her.  
A few hours later, they arrived at Lena's house, and after scanning the area Natalia determined that it was safe to enter. She set Zaria in the living room and told her to say if anyone was coming. While her daughter kept watch, Natalia raced through the house. She grabbed a slightly bigger, but still easy to manage, bag and shoved extra clothes for both of them inside, along with a couple of her favorite pictures of herself and Zaria. She filled Zaria's backpack with her stuffed animals and two blankets, along with the jewelry box Lena had given her for her birthday. After Zaria finished changing her clothes, Natalia had her pull on her backpack while Natalia went through the kitchen and refilled their food supply. She put the food bag into the bigger bag she'd be carrying and zipped it up. She was just about to leave when she remembered the scrapbook Lena had made of Natalia and Zaria. She quickly grabbed it and shoved it in the bag before zipping it one last time and pulling Zaria onto her hip. The bag was heavy, but it wasn't anything Natalia couldn't carry.  
They spared one last glance at the house before they were gone.  
Natalia and Zaria were out of Russia by the following evening, and from there they stole away on railroads and hitchhiked their way across Europe. Occasionally, Natalia would earn some money by assassinating someone, but she never spent the money, squirreling it away in one of her bank accounts that the Red Room didn't know about, hoping that one day the money could be used by her or her daughter when the Red Room stopped chasing them. They stole food where they could, and Natalia always made sure that Zaria had enough to eat before she ate anything.  
They eventually ended up in Spain, where Natalia heard that one of the girls from the Red Room had been sent looking for them and had arrived in Spain not long after them. When Natalia learned this, she found a safe place and kept Zaria there, leaving only when it was absolutely necessary. They spent 2 weeks in hiding, until one day, Natalia heard footsteps outside the door. She told Zaria to hide in the closet and reminded her to be quiet. When her daughter was hidden, Natalia grabbed her gun and went to stand in front of the door. When she heard the lock turn and click, she raised the gun, pointing it straight at where the person's head would be.

* * *

"Stop!" Clint exclaimed.  
"What?" Steve asked, having been so into the story that he was leaning forward.  
"Stop! That's enough of your story, Tasha." Clint replied.  
"Clint, really?"  
"Yes really. My story needs to be told too."  
Natasha sighed but didn't reply. There was a noise from the doorway and when the Avengers looked, they saw Zaria and Eliza standing there. It was easy to see that Zaria had been crying, her eyes were red and slightly puffy.  
Natasha held out her arms and her daughter ran to her, throwing herself into Natasha's embrace.  
"Shh, baby girl. It's over. You're safe here."  
"I still see his face, Mama. Before you got there, he told me everything he was going to do to me."  
"Shh. I know, Ria. I know. He was a monster, and when I went back and took down the Red Room, I made sure he died."  
Zaria nodded.  
"Um, can I ask some questions?" Steve asked softly, like he was afraid of getting hurt.  
"Sure." Natasha said.  
"Ivan, was he-"  
"The leader of the Red Room, yes. I used to call him Papa. He raised me until I was 7. I trusted him, until I learned how foolish that had been of me."  
"And Alek?"  
"He was a trainer. He was my trainer for only a week, when Ivan reassigned me."  
"Why?" Tony asked.  
"Ivan didn't like other people playing with his toys without his permission, shall we say. Especially not when they left marks."  
"Huh?" Steve asked.  
"Alek was notorious for raping his students. He raped me, a few times, until I decided to fight back. It was the only time anyone hasn't gotten in trouble for attacking their teacher."  
Steve looked horrified. "And Alexei?"  
"He was the trainer I was reassigned to. I was almost 9, he was 19. When I was 11 they had a mission for us, and they made us think we were married. They didn't take the memories away until I was 14, but by then I was pregnant- I just didn't know it."  
"If you were only 11, how did they make it look like you were old enough to be married?"  
"Most people don't scrutinize a woman when she carries herself confidently."  
"Ok, now I'm confused." Bruce said.  
"I learned how to use my body to make it seem like I was older than I actually was."  
"Oh."  
"So Alexei is Zaria's father?"  
"Biologically, yes."  
"And he helped you escape?"  
"Yes."  
"Until they found you in Spain."  
"And we're done." Clint cut in. "That was plenty of questions. Now it's my turn."  
"Alright, Katniss." Tony said.  
"Alright. I'm going to skip to a few years later-"  
"No! We don't know what happened when you went to work for Agent!" Tony exclaimed.  
Clint sighed. "Nearly all of SHIELD was pissed, until they realized that I was a valuable asset. The other agents were mostly jealous, but Fury, Hill, and Coulson treated me decently."  
"And Eliza?"  
"4 months after I started working for SHIELD, her adoption was finalized. I was still no closer to figuring out why our eyes were so similar, so I ran a DNA test on both of us, just to see what popped up."  
"And?" Steve asked.  
"And I'm not her father, at least not biologically."  
"But..." Bruce hedged.  
"But, I'm her uncle. Her father was my _brother_, Barney."  
"No." Eliza said softly. "He wasn't. In all my memories, he was never there. He never married my mother. You're my father, not him."  
"Liza, honey-" Clint started.  
"No! He's not my father, and he's not your brother! You trusted him, and he left you for dead in a ditch when you were _14!_ That's not what a brother does. He abandoned you when you tried to do the right thing. Then he met my mother and got her pregnant. But when she told him, he ditched her too. He should have been there, when the houses were destroyed, he should have died next to her! The only reason it's ok that he wasn't is because you'd already killed him! He's dead, and that's perfect. He didn't care about me or you. _He's. Not. My. Father!_"  
The room was quiet after Eliza's outburst. Natasha and Clint looked at her with shock written on their faces, and Zaria seemed proud of her. The rest of the team clearly didn't know what to make of her words.  
"Ok." Clint said simply. "Ok, Liza, he's not your father. You're right, he didn't care about either of us. And for the record, I wish you didn't have any part of his DNA in your body. You deserve better than that."  
"I have better, Papa. I have you."  
Clint smiled as he gave his daughter a one-armed hug.  
"Alright, back to the story. So I spent my first three years at SHIELD working my way up. After that period, I was the youngest person to be promoted to the top of the organization ever. But during my fourth year was when things really got interesting..."

* * *

**There you have it! It's so full of drama, I love it! This is quite possibly the most dramatic thing I've ever written.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	5. Chapter 5

"Barton!"  
"Wha- oh, hi, Phil."  
"Where are you going, Clint?"  
"Well, it's this place I like to call home. Maybe you have one?"  
"Not funny. You're needed in the conference room. Mission brief."  
"No, come on, Phil."  
"What?"  
"I'm serious, I'm on my way home."  
"Clint-"  
"It's this place, most people have one. It's where you go at the end of the day. There's usually a bedroom or at least a pull out to sleep on. They also tend to contain bathrooms and kitchens. They're really useful, honestly. They make it so that you don't have to sleep at work all the time."  
"Barton, you're really not as funny as you think you are."  
Clint carried on as if he hadn't heard his handler. "Most people even have someone waiting for them at home. Family, pets, even inanimate objects. There was a guy I knew once that swore up and down his toaster welcomed him home everyday."  
"Is that so?" Phil asked, finally deciding to play along.  
"Well, not the toaster part, I just said that to make sure you were paying attention. But anyways, yeah. I've even got someone waiting for me at home too. Her name's Eliza. I think you met her once or twice. Although you might know her better as my daughter."  
"Look, Clint. You know I care about Liza-"  
"I'm done joking, Phil." Clint said, all traces of humor gone from his voice. "I'm going home to my daughter. We haven't seen each other awake in three days. I haven't been able to do anything other than kiss her head when I get home after sending our neighbor back to her own kids."  
"Clint, I know it isn't easy-"  
"No, you don't! I'm sorry, Phil, but you don't. I honestly don't care what you say to me now. I'm going home at a semi decent hour, and that's it. I'm going to make sure I get home in time to give my little girl a hug. Hell, I might even be able to actually help her with her homework, or better yet, we might be able to eat together for the first time in a week. That way, she can at least pretend to know that I love her more than this damn job."  
"Clint, you know Eliza loves you-"  
"I know she does. But I'm starting to wonder if she still loves me. I haven't been able to have a conversation of any kind with her in a few days, Phil! Christ, she's only four and the way I see it, my own drunk ass father was doing a better job with his kids at this stage."  
"You say that like you're going to start drinking and turn out like him."  
"Why the hell do you think no one here has ever seen me drink, Phil? I don't."  
"Clint, I know I've told you countless times, but I'll tell you again. You're a far better man than your father ever was. You care enough about your daughter to yell at your superior in the middle of what is essentially your office. That tells me quite a bit about your priorities."  
"You make it sound like it's a bad thing I put my daughter first." Clint said, staring Phil down.  
"Quite the opposite, in fact. I'm telling you to keep at it."  
"Alright, if those are your orders, I'm going to continue with what I was doing, and leave now."  
"Fine, Barton. Go home, but I need you in the conference room no later than 8 tomorrow morning."  
"Make it 9:30, Liza and I have been planning tomorrow morning for weeks. We're going to see the new Disney movie, and then I'm dropping her off to school late."  
"Fine, whatever. I'll give you until 9:30. But after that you're on your own."  
"Thanks, Phil." Clint said as he turned and hurried down the hall.  
"Hey, Barton!" Phil called.  
"What?" Clint called back.  
"Tell Liza I said hi!"  
"Will do, boss."

When Clint arrived home later, Eliza was in front of the TV stretching.  
"What are you doing, crazy girl?" Clint asked as he leaned down and kissed her head.  
Eliza giggled but didn't get up. "Miss. Marilyn said the best way to get better is to stretch whenever you have free time."  
"Did she now?"  
"Uh-huh."  
"And how is your gymnastics coach?"  
"Old."  
Clint laughed at Eliza's response. It was a common complaint from his daughter, but given it was the only complaint, andy said jokingly most of the time, he knew she was happy with the gym she was at.  
"Why are you home so early?" Eliza asked as she followed him into their kitchen and sat down at the table while Clint got plates down and started reheating the leftover chicken his neighbor, Andrea, had made for Eliza to eat while Clint was at work.  
"Why, were you going to invite boys over to party?"  
"What? You have to be home for me to have any friends over." She said, confused by his question.  
Clint smiled over his shoulder at her. "That's right, and don't ever forget it."  
"O-kaay." She said, making her typical face whenever her father said or did anything weird. "But, really, I was beginning to think I'd never see you again."  
"I know, me too. But Phil let me go early tonight. He says hi, by the way."  
"Hi back. He let you leave, or you told him you were leaving?"  
"For a girl who isn't even 5 yet, you're way too smart."  
"Exactly. I'm smart enough to have started kindergarten early."  
"And don't I know it."  
Eliza stuck her tongue out at her father but started eating. Clint sat across from her while he ate, just watching her.  
"You're staring."  
"You're observant."  
"I don't know what that means."  
"It means you notice things."  
"That was a compliment. But what you said the first time didn't sound like one."  
"You'll understand one day."  
"If you say so."  
They slipped back into silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable.  
When dinner was winding down, Clint spoke again.  
"About your birthday, Liza."  
"You're going to be gone, aren't you?" She asked, trying to keep her voice strong, but Clint could still hear the hurt in it.  
"I don't know, Liza. Phil and Fury have a new mission for me and I don't know how long it'll take."  
"Ok." She whispered, looking down at her plate.  
"Hey, look at me." Clint said gently. When Eliza didn't comply, Clint stood up and lifted her from her chair and carried her into the living room. He sat down on the couch and settled her on his lap. Eliza tucked herself into his embrace and leaned her head on his shoulder.  
"I still don't know for sure if I'm missing your birthday. And even if I am, there's a chance that I can get the mission done with quickly enough to make it home in time."  
"And if you can't?"  
"If I can't, we'll have a big celebration when I get back."  
"Big?"  
"Yeah. I'll take you out of school early on a Thursday, and we'll go to Disneyland until Sunday."  
"Will you ride Dumbo with me?"  
"Until you get sick."  
"You'll get sick first."  
"That's a lie. I was in the circus, remember?"  
"That doesn't mean anything."  
Clint chuckled as he reached his fingers in to Eliza's stomach and wiggled them around, causing the little girl to break into a fit of laughter. A few seconds later, Clint had her squirming around on his lap, tears rolling down her face.  
"Say uncle, little girl."  
"Papa! Papa, please! Can't. Breathe."  
Clint paused long enough to let Eliza catch her breath slightly, but then he was back to tickling her.  
"I said say _uncle. _Not 'Papa.'"  
"Uncle!"  
Clint immediately stopped tickling his daughter and set her on the couch to catch her breath completely while he dealt with their dishes. When he returned, Eliza was still lying on the couch, her long hair fanned out around her.  
"Bath time." He announced, causing Eliza to shake her head.  
"Did it last night with Andrea. She even put bubbles in the water."  
"Alright. I'm checking with her in the morning, just so you know."  
"I do."  
"Alright, then bedtime."  
Eliza groaned but rolled off the couch and went to her bedroom to change. 10 minutes later, Clint was lying next to her, telling her one of his stories from his circus days. When the story ended, Eliza was asleep, and Clint was nearly there himself.  
When he tried to get out of her bed, Eliza held his shirt tighter and mumbled 'Papa' before snuggling closer. Sighing, he lifted her into his arms and carried her to his room where he set her on the bed while he changed into his own pajamas. When he was done, he made a nest for the two of them and allowed Eliza to curl into his side as they both fell asleep.

"You want me to do _what _to her?"  
"Kill her."  
"But, Phil, she's just a child."  
"That may be true. But she's a child that has killed over 300 people." Fury said before Phil could reply.  
"Do you know anything else about her?"  
"She's currently in Spain. Someone from her organization in Russia is following her there, so even if you don't kill her, there should be someone there to do it for you. Of course the chances of them actually intending to kill her are quite small, so..."  
"So you want me to kill her. Wait, why did they send someone after her?"  
"We don't know, Barton, and we don't care."  
Clint nodded, even though he couldn't help but care. He couldn't get his head around the fact that someone who wasn't even 19 could kill more than 300 people, and he figured there had to be something behind that.  
"Any further questions, Agent?" Fury asked.  
"Um... how long are you expecting this to last?"  
"Minimum of 2 weeks."  
Clint sighed. "Alright. Phil, when I get back, you better have planned the best trip to Disneyland for Eliza and I. I want to leave on a Wednesday night and get back on a Sunday night. And before you try to talk your way out of it, just remember that I gave you advanced warning of when her birthday was, and you still gave me a mission."  
Phil had opened his mouth, but snapped it shut at Clint's reminder.  
"Fine, Barton. I assume she'll be staying with me?"  
"Maria, actually. Our neighbor had to go visit family."  
"Alright. Pack your bags, you're leaving in 2 hours."  
Clint sighed and nodded. _At least Eliza is used to getting picked up by my co-workers_. Clint shuddered at how normal he managed to make his job sound.

Spain was hot. There really was no other word for it. It was hot and Clint hated it. He'd managed to track down his target on the second day, and he'd been asking out her place ever since.  
Natalia Romanova. The Black Widow. Clint tried not to wince as he remembered everything that had happened to the previous agents sent to take her down. Only one of the other agents had even been able to find her before she killed them.  
On his second night watching, he found his opportunity. He slithered down from his perch and made his way stealthily to the front door, making sure to cause enough noise to distract her. He set up one of SHIELD's new toys to pick the lock and then open the door, while he went around to the back. He watched through one of the windows as she held her gun up and pointed it toward the door. Just when the loudest part of the process occurred, he opened the window and quietly crawled inside, making it just in time to hear a click as the front door opened, and the Black Widow fired a shot.  
Silently, just as she squeezed the trigger, Clint had his bow ready with an arrow pointed at the back of her head. When the blast from the shot died down, he decided to get on with his show.  
"Come now, Natalia, surely you didn't think I'd be dumb enough to come in through your front door?"

* * *

"Ok! Enough." Natasha cried.  
"Mama! I want to hear his side of the story." Zaria complained.  
"Trust me, Ria, it isn't any different. Just more embellished." Eliza said, leaning over to look at Zaria.  
"You wound me, Liza." Clint said.  
"It was fully intended." She shot back with a smile on her face.  
"Hold on a second." Steve said. "You missed your daughter's fifth birthday to kill the most dangerous assassin on the planet."  
"Basically." Clint said, shrugging.  
"And that was after you walked out on your superior officer?"  
"And Eliza's godfather." Clint said, nodding.  
"Wait, hold on. Agent was her godfather."  
"Is." Eliza said quietly.  
"Liza-" Zaria started, her voice soft.  
"I'm not stupid, Zaria! Just because I'm two weeks younger than you doesn't mean I'm an idiot."  
"I never said you were!" Zaria replied, hurt seeping into her voice.  
"I know he's gone. I know he is. But that doesn't change anything. You can't just start acting like he's replaceable!"  
"Eliza!" Clint said sharply. "That's enough. You know no one here was even suggesting the notion of Phil being replaceable." Clint got off the arm of the couch and knelt in front of his daughter, bringing his hand up to her cheek and stroking her cheekbones softly. "I know what he meant to you, honey. I know. You two spent so much time together when you were little, and I know that the hurt you're feeling will never go away."  
"I'm sorry, Papa. But everyone is talking about him in past tense, like everything about him is just gone, like it was never really there."  
"I know, Liza. And I know it hurts, but what would Phil tell you if he saw you near tears over him?"  
Eliza let out a strangled laugh before replying. "Suck it up and move on."  
"Exactly. It might be a little harsh right now, but you know he'd be saying it to you anyways."  
Eliza nodded and wrapped her arms around Clint's neck, hugging him tightly. She shot a glance at Zaria, apology clear in her eyes. With a small nod, Zaria told her that all was forgiven.  
"Ok, back it up." Bruce said, speaking for a still slightly shocked Steve.  
"I still can't believe that you'd miss your kid's birthday." Steve said quietly.  
"It's a hazard of the job, Steve. You do what your superiors tell you. If they tell you to kill one of the most dangerous people on the planet, you do it and hope to _something_ that you make it out alive."  
"It could have been worse. She could have killed him." Eliza cut in, shooting her father a playful look.  
"I'm beginning to think you doubt my skills, Liza."  
"Oh, of course not, Papa." She said sweetly.  
Clint just gave her a look that caused her to break out in giggles.  
"Alright, calm down crazy girl." Zaria said.  
"Thank you, Ria. Now, to continue where Clint left off." Natasha said, taking charge of the situation like she often did.  
"I still don't know how I didn't hear him come in through the window. But in that moment, all I could think of was that he'd be able to put that ridiculous arrow through my head quicker than I'd be able to turn around. That's right, I knew Hawkeye was behind me, I'd heard he was one of the others sent to kill me. I just never thought he'd get close enough to finish the job..."

* * *

**Aaaand, end scene. Hope you guys liked i! Their stories are going to end up merging in to one very shortly, but they'll most likely take turns narrating.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	6. Chapter 6

"Come now, Natalia, did you really think I was going to walk in your front door?"  
The voice startled Natalia slightly, but she did her best not to show it. Of course she hadn't been expecting him to just walk in. But she had been expecting him to make some kind of a noise. Even the girl sent from the Red Room would have made some kind of a noise. Which only left one possibility for who was behind her.  
"Hawkeye." She said, no hint of a question in her voice.  
"So you've heard of me?"  
"I've heard of your weapon." She said, voice close to a sneer.  
"Put the gun on the floor, kick it over to me." He said, danger evident in his words.

Even though she knew it was stupid of her, she complied. She slid her gun behind her and two seconds later she heard the sound of Hawkeye stopping it with his boot.  
"Now turn around slowly." He instructed.  
Natalia complied, and tried not to smirk at the gasp he let out when she was facing him.

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait." Clint jumped in. "You're making me sound like a rookie or something."  
"Alright, Hawkboy, you tell the next bit."  
"Fine." Clint huffed.  
"I told her to turn around..."

* * *

The second the Black Widow started turning around, Clint mentally prepared himself for what he was more than likely going to see. But no amount of preparation could stop his reaction.  
_Holy fuck. She's just a kid!_ He thought, trying his best not to let shock overtake his features. Her file may say that she was 19, but to Clint, she didn't look a day over 15.  
"Surprised? I would have thought your American bosses would have at least told you what I look like."  
The way she said American made it sound like a dirty word, like it was among the greatest sins to be an American.

* * *

"Oh, please!" Natasha interrupted. "I did not make it sound like being American was horrible."  
"You totally did, Tasha." Clint said, a slight teasing tone taking over.  
"If you say so." She grumbled.  
"I do. But if you'd like to repair your image, please, feel free to take over."  
"I will."

* * *

"Well, at least you're not going to shoot me in the back." Natalia said, trying to keep the resignation out of her voice.  
Hawkeye sighed and lowered his bow slightly, so that it was pointed at the floor. "I'm not going to shoot you, Natalia." He said quietly.  
"What?" She asked, completely failing to keep the shock out of her voice.  
"How old are you, really?"  
"How old did they tell you I was?" She countered.  
"19." He replied.  
"They're right."  
Hawkeye nodded, he'd been expecting as much.

There was tense silence for a moment, and Natalia struggled to keep herself from looking to where Zaria was hiding.  
Finally, Hawkeye spoke.  
"How about a deal, Natalia?"

* * *

"Ugh. Could you _please_ not make me sound like a lawyer or something?"  
"What?"  
"'How about a deal?' Seriously, Tasha?"  
"They were your words!"  
Clint just gave her a look before taking over.

* * *

"A deal?" She asked, skepticism coloring her words.  
"Of sorts."  
"What kind of a deal?"  
"I won't kill you."  
"And in return...?"  
"And in return, you come work for SHIELD."  
The Black Widow scoffed. "You want me to come work for a crappy American agency?"  
Clint shrugged. "Well yeah. Assuming you don't want to die."  
"And what makes you so sure I'll defect from my country?"  
"The fact that you already have."  
"What?"  
"You ran from them. We've been keeping tabs on you. Something happened, and you escaped. That's why they sent someone after you."  
"How do you know about that?"  
"I told you, we're keeping tabs on you. It's really not a difficult decision, Natalia. Either you come with me, or I kill you."  
"And how do I know they won't kill me when we arrive?"  
"Easy. I won't let them."  
The Black Widow scoffed. "Right, and I'm just supposed to take your word for it?"  
"Think of it this way, if I had wanted to kill you, you'd be dead."

* * *

"Ok, there is no way he said that and you bought it, Spidey." Tony cut in.  
"Except for the fact that you know she accepted." Bruce said, trying to get back to the story.  
"Thank you Bruce." Natasha said.

* * *

Natalia just continued to look at him.  
"Look, I'm going to need an answer here." Hawkeye eventually said.  
Natalia thought for a moment or two, and this time she couldn't help the way her eyes drifted to Zaria's hiding place. The thought of her daughter seeing or hearing her die made Natalia's mind up quicker than anything else could have.  
"Fine." She said, pretending to be slightly indignant.  
"Good choice." He said. "Get your stuff together, I need to make a call, and then we're leaving."  
Natalia nodded and went in to the room her daughter was in and started throwing all their stuff together.  
"Zaria." She murmured. "You can come out now."  
There was a slight shuffle, and her daughter appeared by her side. "What's going on, Mama?"  
"We're leaving."  
"For where?"  
"America."  
"But Lena said America was bad, that it was shameful to go there."  
Natalia crouched down to Zaria's level. "Lena said a lot of things. She used to tell me that I shouldn't be allowed to see you after I went back to work. We can't stay here, it's not safe."  
"Will America be safe?"  
"I don't know right now. But I'm really hoping so."  
Zaria nodded. "Is that man taking us?"  
"Yes."  
Zaria nodded once more and helped her mother finish packing. When they were done, Natalia lifted Zaria onto her hip and walked into the room where Hawkeye was on the phone with his back to them.  
When he turned around, he let out a girlish squeak at the sight of the mini-Natalia staring at him.

* * *

"Now you're making me sound like a little girl!"  
"I'm just describing the sound you made, Clint." Natasha teased.  
"To be fair, there was no indication that you had a kid. Like at all. And then suddenly I turn around and you're holding a girl that looks exactly like you. It was slightly shocking."  
"If you want to think that, go right ahead."

* * *

"Natalia?"  
"What?"  
"What is that?" Clint asked, gesturing to the girl in her arms.  
"It's a person."  
"I see that. Who is it?"  
Natalia gave him a thorough once over before answering.  
"She's my daughter."  
Clint actually relaxed at hearing that, although he didn't know why.  
He gave a quick nod before leading her to the door.  
"I called my handler. He's not pleased, but there isn't much he can do at this point. There's a jet not far from here that I flew in on, we'll take that back."  
"And then what happens?"  
"And then, hell will most likely break loose. I'm disobeying orders by bringing you in, not that I particularly care, rules are meant to be broken."  
"But?"  
"But your life isn't going to be fun for a little while. They'll question you, probably run some tests. Basically, they're going to do everything they can think of to make sure that you're not double crossing them."  
"Is that what you think I'm doing?"  
"No. I think you're coming with me because it's your best option, and your daughter's."  
"And what will happen to her, when they question me? She was only at the facility for a day, the rest of her life was spent hours away."  
"As of now, she was never at the facility. She lived wherever it was that she lived, and had no knowledge of anything to do with the facility."  
"Why?"  
"Because if they find out she knew, they'll question her, even if she's young."

* * *

"Would they really have questioned her?" Steve asked.  
"More than likely. After one mission where we freed a bunch of kids from a human trafficking ring, the oldest ones were questioned for hours before Coulson and I found out and put an end to it. We were both suspended for it, but the kids were able to actually get some food that wasn't mush."  
"And Fury let that happen?" Bruce asked.  
"Fury didn't know. He was at another of the bases. It was the council's decision. He went ape shit when he found out."  
"Alright, guys, back to the story." Natasha scolded.

* * *

Natalia nodded and started following him from the house.  
"What's your name? I can't imagine that your parents named you Hawkeye."  
"They didn't. I'm Clint Barton."  
Natalia nodded. They walked in silence for a bit, until they eventually arrived at an open yet deserted field. And in the middle of the field was a plane.  
"Alright, get on board." Barton said.  
Natalia did as she was told and strapped herself in, settling Zaria on her lap.  
"Your daughter is very pretty, Natalia."  
"Thank you."  
"She have a name?"  
"Zaria. It means-"  
"Sunrise."  
Natalia looked up at him in shock. "Hey, I know some things!" He said, pretending to be indignant.  
Natalia scoffed but said nothing else as the plane took off.

A short while later, Barton broke the silence.  
"You'll need to change your name. Or at least Americanize it."  
"And her?" Natalia asked, gesturing to her daughter, even if Barton couldn't see her.  
"She should be ok."  
Natalia nodded and thought for a moment.  
"Natasha Romanoff." She said quietly a few minutes later.  
She could see Barton nodding from his seat. "Sounds good. Does Zaria speak English?"  
"She does. It was a necessity. It's never safe to speak of certain things in a country's mother tongue."  
Barton nodded once more but opted not to speak.

A few hours later, they were arriving at the Hellicarrier, which was currently stationed on the ocean.  
"Alright, Natasha, Zaria. Brace yourselves." Barton warned as he came to stand in front of them after shutting the plane off. "The minute those doors open, hell will rain down on you."  
"And we won't be killed?" Natasha asked, still somewhat unsure.  
"Not so long as I can help it. I've already made it clear that I'm taking full responsibility for you, so if anyone gets killed, it'll likely be me. But you will be interrogated, and I can't be in the room for that, but I'll watch from one of the rooms, and step in if I feel that they're being unfair."  
"And where will Zaria go? I don't want her to see that."  
"If it's alright with you and her, I'll keep her with me, but I'll make sure she doesn't see anything you wouldn't want her to."  
Natasha looked at him for a long moment before she finally nodded. Barton returned the gesture and walked with them to the back of the plane. Zaria made herself as small as she could in her mother's arms, and Natasha tried not to focus on her desire to do the same thing.  
"I'm counting on you, Red. Don't let me down." Barton said before hitting a switch that caused the doors to open onto the airstrip, and Natasha tried not to let her dread consume her.

* * *

"You make it sound so dramatic, Spidey." Tony said.  
"You try defecting from Russia and going to America, and see how you feel. When you're raised thinking a country is the ultimate enemy, that they're filth, and then suddenly that country is the only safe place for you? You'd feel the same way."  
The room was quiet for a bit, before Clint cut in.  
"Anyway, let's move on shall we? How about we skip to when Eliza and Zaria first met?"  
"You mean when I wanted to hit her in the face?" Zaria asked.  
"Trust me, the feeling was mutual." Eliza shot back.  
"Girls, you were five. I guarantee that you wouldn't have gotten in a fight." Natasha said.  
"That's because you have so much more experience with how we act toward each other now. You've forgotten that we hated each other at the beginning."  
"Right. It wasn't until after Sao Paulo that we started getting along."  
"What happened in Sao Paulo?" Steve asked, his interest in their stories seemed to be endless.  
"You'll see when we get there. It's about 3 years after this." Eliza answered.  
Steve sighed and Tony rolled his eyes but gestured for them to continue.  
Zaria nodded and started, "So, I was with Clint while Mama was being interrogated, when suddenly I heard this noise down the hall..."

* * *

**Hopefully you guys liked that. I know there were more interruptions in this one, but I'm probably going to do the rest of them like this, just so the change in viewpoint is obvious. I hope it wasn't too hard to follow, but let me know if there's anything you need me to clear up.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thank you so much to Lollypops101, Malmal86, and Orion84 for your continued support. You guys are fabulous and your feedback is the main reason this story has continued this far. Thank you so so so so so much. :)**

* * *

Clint was paying attention to the interrogation going on directly on the other side of the one-sided glass. Or at least a much attention as he could while ensuring that Zaria was always in his sightline and wasn't going to see- or more likely _hear_- something that would get Natasha pissed at him. He couldn't really explain it, but something about the deadly redhead made him genuinely care about her and her daughter.  
He was so focused on what was happening in front of him that he didn't notice the commotion down the hall until Zaria mentioned it.  
"Who's yelling?" She asked softly.  
"Wha- oh, I don't know." He replied after he finally heard what she as talking about.  
He took a few steps toward the door and looked out, but he couldn't see anything aside from a large crowd of agents, no doubt trying to spy on the Black Widow. He shrugged his shoulders and stepped further into the room, but he left the door open. The idiot junior agents weren't dumb enough to go near the room anyway.  
Zaria had gone back to playing with one of her stuffed animals so Clint decided to sit next to her. A few minutes later, he heard the same person yelling, but he wasn't interested enough to investigate. As the voices got closer, however, he was able to make out the words being said.  
"Eliza Barton, stop running through the halls!"  
"No! He's back, I know he is!"  
"I already told you he was back, but he's busy."  
"No he isn't! He always comes to see me _right _when he gets back, unless he got hurt!"  
"Eliza-"  
"And I know he didn't get hurt, because you would have taken me to see him. So where is he?"  
Before the agent accompanying his daughter could reply, she burst through the door and saw him sitting next to Zaria.  
"Hi, Liza." He said. His daughter was only 4, but when she was angry it was a terrifying sight to behold.  
"No. Why didn't you come home?"  
"I've been here since I got back."  
"Why didn't you call me?"  
"I couldn't sweetie."  
Eliza's anger was starting to fade and was being replaced with sadness. Before Clint was really aware of what was happening, she was crying in front of him, tears pouring down her face.  
"Why didn't you call me, Papa?" She cried, rubbing furiously at her eyes.  
"I had to bring someone in for Fury to talk to."  
"But you could have died."  
"Who told you that?"  
"Agent Megan."  
"What did she say?"  
"She was talking to Maria about your mission. She said it would me a miracle if you came home alive. She said- she said your target would probably end up killing you. You can't die, Papa! I won't have anyone else! Please, Papa, please don't die!"  
Eliza's tears were coming faster, and Clint got up from his position on the floor and started walking over to hug her.  
"Megan was right, Mama could have killed him. He's just American trash!"  
Eliza looked around in shock when she heard the words, until her eyes landed on Zaria, who was giving her a defiant look. Suddenly, Eliza snapped and she ran at the little girl.  
"Don't talk about my Papa like that!" She shrieked. "He can kill anybody!"  
Clint grabbed Eliza around the waist and hauled her into the air, preventing her from doing any damage. He held her firmly against his chest as she continued to thrash and try to break free of his hold, while Zaria continued talking about how Americans weren't good for anything except being capitalists. Clint carried Eliza to the door, where he found Maria waiting.

* * *

"Whoa, Spidey, you taught your daughter that stuff?" Tony asked in surprise.  
"No, she didn't." Zaria answered. "It was Lena. She grew up during the Cold War and had never learned to put her prejudices aside. She was my main influence when I was younger, so it kind of rubbed off on me."  
"What happened when you found out, Natasha?" Bruce asked.  
"I went crazy. I yelled at her for at least an hour straight. I repeatedly let her know that Lena was wrong and that Americans were actually quite useful. And I made sure she knew that without Clint, we both would have been dead."  
"I felt horrible afterwards, but I still didn't like Eliza. I thought she was too soft, too demanding."  
"And I absolutely couldn't stand Zaria. She was rude, no two ways about it. She didn't give a rat's ass about another person's feelings, except her mother's."  
"That must have been fun when you two started dating." Bruce said sarcastically.  
"We didn't start dating until after Sao Paulo, and by then they'd both cooled off. But it was weird at first."  
"How so?" Steve asked.  
"No." Eliza siad. "That comes later. Now it's my turn."

* * *

Maria looked over at Clint as they stepped through the doorway. "Sorry, Clint. I tried chasing her down."  
"Don't worry about it. Can you sit in there until I get back, please?"  
Maria nodded and stepped inside, closing the door behind her. As soon as the door was closed, Eliza stopped struggling and went limp in Clint's arms, holding tightly to his shirt and hiding her face in his chest as tears continued to flow.  
"'m sorry, Papa." She whispered.  
Clint shifted his hold on her until she was forced to look at him. Her eyes were red and puffy and he could tell she was close to falling asleep.  
"Liza, baby, when was the last time you slept?" He asked softly, allowing her to lean her head on his shoulder.  
"Last night."  
"Liza." He warned.  
"Two days ago. Then I heard agent Megan talking, and I was scared. Maria even let me sleep with her, but it didn't help."  
Clint sighed. "We're going home, and you're going to sleep."  
"I thought you were busy."  
_Shit_. Clint thought. "I am. Do you want to see if Phil can take you home?"  
"No."  
"Liza, you can't stay here."  
"_She_ gets to."  
Clint chuckled lightly. "Yes, because her mother is being interrogated."  
"You didn't kill her?"  
"She's 19, Liza, I couldn't."  
"Just because of that?"  
"Look, honey, I know you're smart, but I'm not comfortable telling you her life history. For one, it's probably more gruesome than I want you thinking about. And secondly, I don't even know that much, just that she's from Russia and had a kid when she was 14."  
"I don't want to leave."  
"I know, Liza. But you know you can't stay here."  
"Can Andrea come get me? She called last night and said Maria could drop me off at her house today."  
"You know she can't know what my actual job is, Liza."  
They were quiet for a moment, before Clint spoke again. "What if Phil drops you off with Andrea? Then you and Sophie can play together."  
"Sophie doesn't like me, she tries to bite me."  
"Are you sure it's not because you stick your hand by her teeth."  
"Of course not. And she smells funny."  
"She's a _dog, _Liza. I'd be worried if she didn't smell funny."  
Liza giggled softly, but didn't say anything else.  
"You didn't answer my question, Liza." Clint reminded her softly. "Do you want Phil to drop you off with Andrea? I think her boys are still with their dad."  
Eliza shrugged. "I guess."  
Before Clint could reply, The door opened, and Maria stuck her head out. "Fury wants you in the room."  
Clint nodded and tried to set Eliza on the ground, but she refused to put her legs on the ground. Clint sighed but didn't try to force her to let go. Instead, he stood up right again and walked to the door of the interrogation room. Just as Clint's hand reached for the handle, Eliza shifted in his arm and hid her face, knowing Fury wouldn't be happy to see her in this instance. Clint kissed her head once before opening the door.  
"About time, Barton- What is she doing with you?" Fury asked, staring pointedly at Eliza.  
"She overheard one of your agents questioning my abilities and got scared."  
Clint was looking at Fury, but from the corner of his eye he saw Natasha staring at him. Her face was blank, but he could see the shock in her eyes.

* * *

"Hold up, Eliza. Clint, did you really tell her that?"  
"What, that I could tell you were shocked?"  
"Yes! You had just met me, there's no way you could have seen that."  
"Whatever keeps the buoyancy in your flotation apparatus, Tasha."  
"Huh?" Steve asked.  
"Whatever floats your boat." Bruce said, chuckling at Clint's over-formal expression.  
"Umm... can I continue?" Eliza asked.  
"Sorry, Liza, go ahead." Natasha said.

* * *

"Did you need anything, Sir?" Clint asked.  
"I just wanted to let you know that your ass is way on the line."  
"Beg pardon?"  
"The council isn't pleased, Barton."  
"With all due respect, Sir, I don't really care."  
Fury gave a wry chuckle. "I didn't think you would. I just wanted to warn you."  
"Warn me?"  
"Ms. Romanoff will undoubtedly become a SHIELD agent, assuming she passes all the required tests. When she does, she'll become your responsibility. You'll be partners when she's cleared."  
"Understood sir." Clint replied.  
"Good. Dismissed. Get that girl home." He added with a fond smile.  
"Yes, Sir." Clint said before turning around.  
"Papa?" Eliza murmured.  
"Shh, honey. We're going home, ok?"  
"'Kay." She said, snuggling closer to his chest.  
Clint nodded to the people in the room before turning and walking out, closing the door behind him.  
He started walking down the hall when he heard the door open behind him, and a voice calling out to him.  
"Barton!"  
When he turned around, he saw Natasha walking quickly toward him.  
"Natasha?"  
"Umm... thank you. For... everything."  
Clint nodded. "Don't mention it."  
Natasha nodded, her eyes falling on Eliza.  
"So, you have a kid too?"  
"Um, yeah. She'll be 5 in a few days."  
Natasha nodded. "She have a name?"  
"Eliza."  
"She's pretty."  
Clint nodded again. "Thanks."  
"Is Ria in there?" She asked, gesturing toward the viewing room.  
"Ria? Oh, Zaria. Yeah. I left her with another agent when Eliza got here."  
"What?" Natasha hissed, instantly annoyed with him.  
"She's fine, Natasha. It's the same agent I leave Liza with when I'm on missions. I trust her with my daughter, and that's not something I can say for many people. Just four others, besides myself."  
Natasha seemed to calm slightly at his words. "Was she- was she ok?"  
"Yeah, she's sweet." Clint said, wondering if he should tell her about Zaria's comment.  
"But...?" Natasha hedged.  
"When Eliza showed up, she was upset. She'd overheard someone saying they doubted that I'd return alive."  
Natasha chuckled softly.  
"Anyways, Zaria said you'd have been able to take me out- which I don't doubt- but she seemed to think it was because of something besides your skill."  
"And what was that?"  
"I believe her exact words were 'He's just American trash!' I know she probably didn't mean it-"  
"I'm sure she did."  
"I'm sorry?"  
"The lady she lived with?"  
"Yeah, I think I heard a bit about that."  
"Well, she was raised during the Cold War. Old habits die hard, I guess."  
Clint just nodded, slightly uncomfortable. He didn't like telling parents stuff like this- it reminded him too much of his father.  
"Look, Barton, I'm sorry for what she said."  
"It's fine, Natasha."  
"No, it's not! She needs to learn what you risked by bringing us here. We owe you tremendously."  
"No, you don't."  
Natasha sighed, but didn't try to argue with him.  
"I guess I'll see you tomorrow." She said, stepping toward the room her daughter was in.  
"See you tomorrow, Natasha."  
They nodded to each other, and Natasha opened the door. Upon seeing Natasha enter, Maria exited quickly, and in the seconds before the door was closed again, Clint heard a string of very angry sounding Russian.  
"Papa, I want to go home." Eliza whispered into his neck.  
"Alright, Liza." He nodded his thanks to Maria before continuing down the hallway and out of the building.

* * *

"And that's all you're getting on our interactions for now." Zaria said.  
"What kinds of tests did they do, Natasha?" Steve asked.  
"They weren't tests, so much as making sure I didn't die."  
"What?" Bruce and Tony asked at the same time.  
"The Red Room had us on drugs for some of their experiments, and prolonged periods off the drugs sent the girls into complete withdrawal. Far worse than any drug you Americans know of."  
"So... that happened to you?"  
"Yeah-"  
"Wait, why didn't it happen when you were pregnant with Zaria?" Bruce asked.  
"They hadn't started me on the serious drugs until after I had her. Before that it was just minor drugs that wouldn't kill me if I didn't take them."  
The group nodded, slightly stunned.  
"Ok, moving on!" Eliza said.  
"To what?"  
"Sao Paulo!" Tony and Steve exclaimed.  
"Not yet." The four story tellers replied at the same time.  
Tony got a pouty look on his face, and Steve just sighed.  
"We could skip to our first mission together." Clint suggested.  
"More skipping? Can't you just go in order?"  
"No!" Zaria exclaimed. "I do not need to relive the time before you became an agent."  
Natasha nodded.  
"Our first mission went to shit almost immediately."  
"Mama!" Zaria exclaimed.  
"Oh, can it, Ria. You've heard both of us say much worse things."  
Zaria chuckled, but nodded for her mother to continue.  
"Anyway, we had some bad intel going in..."

* * *

**Yay for kid drama. Do you guys like this story? I'm not getting tons of feedback, so I don't know if I should continue with it or end it soon, so please let me know.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)  
**


	8. Chapter 8

"Liza, get a move on, let's go!" Clint called up the stairs.  
"I'm coming, Papa!" She called back.  
A few minutes later, she came down the stairs, carrying her bunny and her gym bag. Her backpack and suitcase were by the door, waiting for Clint to carry them out to Maria's car.  
"You ready, Liza?" He asked.  
"Yeah. _She's_ going to be there, isn't she?"  
"Yes, Zaria will be staying with Maria as well. Natasha's my partner now, so we're going to be going on a lot of missions together. You'll need to get used to it."  
"Fine." Eliza sighed.  
Clint crouched in front of her. "Hey, Liza. I know you two don't get along, but I need you to at least be civil, ok?"  
"So, what? You want me to let her walk all over me?"  
"No, Eliza. I never want you to let anyone do that. I just want you to make an effort to not fight with her, ok?"  
"Alright, Papa, I'll try."  
"Thank you. That's all I ask." Clint said as he kissed her cheek and lead her out the front door. After making sure she had everything, he put her suitcase and her gym bag in the trunk and held her bunny while she climbed into the car. He gave the bunny a hug and a kiss and handed it back before leaning into the car slightly and kissing her head.  
"I love you, Liza." He said softly.  
"I love you too, Papa." She replied.  
With a final smile, Clint closed the door. He gave Maria a hug and went to his own car, watching as Maria's SUV backed out of the driveway. He waited until the car was around the corner before getting into his own and driving off in the other direction to pick Natasha up.

* * *

"Wait, where were you, Zaria?" Steve asked.  
"I was already at Maria's house. She'd picked me up from school, and Mama had already dropped my stuff off with her."  
"Oh, ok. Continue, please." Steve said.  
Zaria nodded, and picked up with her version of events. "I really wasn't looking forward to spending two and a half weeks with Eliza. I didn't mind Maria or Phil too much, but I really didn't want anything to do with Eliza..."

* * *

Zaria watched as Maria's SUV pulled into the driveway and Eliza climbed out, holding a stuffed bunny and carrying her backpack. A few seconds later, Maria opened the door and walked in carrying Eliza's suitcase.  
"Alright, Liza. Same room as always." She said as Eliza took her suitcase and started down the hall. Zaria tried not to be annoyed at the fact that even though it looked like her luggage weighed more than she did, Eliza wasn't struggling at all.  
"Can I watch TV, Maria?" Zaria asked, hoping that she'd gain control of the remote and prevent Eliza from watching what she wanted to.  
"Sure. Dinner will probably be around 6:30, ok?"  
"'Kay." Zaria said as she picked up the remote and started flipping through channels, stopping when she found an episode of Spongebob.

An hour later she realized that Eliza hadn't emerged from her room yet, not that Zaria particularly cared. About a half an hour after that, she heard Eliza coming down the hallway, and then Maria's footsteps joined in, accompanied by keys jangling.  
"I'm going to take Eliza to gymnastics. Do you want to come?"  
Zaria thought for a moment. She didn't know how long the drive would take, but the possibility of making fun of Eliza- because there was no way she could actually be any good- was too great to make her worry about that.  
"Sure." She said, sliding her feet into her flip-flops and ignoring the annoyance she felt when Eliza didn't seem to care whether or not she tagged along.  
They walked out to Maria's car, and Eliza asked her a question in a language Zaria couldn't understand.  
"Noiz izango da Phil hasiera izango ote da?" _'When will Phil be home?'_  
"Seguruenik, ez da berandu arte. Ziur aukera guztietan ezagutzen dute egin ditu." _'Probably not until late. He has to make sure they know every possibility.'  
_Zaria told herself that she wasn't jealous, but she wasn't really convinced, especially when Eliza said something else, and she and Maria started laughing.

The ride to the gym turned out to not take very long, and Zaria followed Maria up to an observation area while Eliza changed.  
"How long will we be here?" Zaria asked Maria.  
"About two hours. I just need to make sure she eats. She's like her father that way. If she's engrossed in something, she won't eat unless she's forced."  
Zaria nodded but didn't say anything. Eliza had just entered her line of sight, and Zaria didn't want to miss anything. There was just one problem.  
Eliza was great.  
She was extremely flexible- almost scarily so. She was strong too. Zaria watched as she beat a boy a few years older than herself to the top of the climbing rope, and Zaria could tell the boy had been trying to beat her. Her skills were excellent, even slightly ahead of her age.  
Zaria watched Eliza, enthralled by her routines. She placated herself by reminding her brain that it was ok to not like an actress, but to still like a movie. she was so engrossed that she hadn't even realized Maria left until she saw the agent enter the training area. Eliza's coach had to force her to stop working long enough to eat part of the sandwich Maria had bought her, but as soon as Maria left the room, Eliza was back up and working, her food almost forgotten.  
Maria returned to the observation room a few minutes later.  
"I got sandwiches for us as well. do you want to eat here or at my house?"  
"Umm... here's fine, I guess. I'm pretty hungry."  
Maria nodded as she pulled out a sandwich and a bag of chips for Zaria and herself, along with two water bottles. When they finished eating, Maria stood up and Zaria followed her from the building.  
"Eliza's coach will bring her to my house when they're done, so we can leave now." Maria said in answer to Zaria's unasked question.  
When they arrived at the house, Zaria went to the room she was staying in and pulled her pajamas on before going to find Maria. The agent was at the kitchen table, working on paperwork of some kind.  
"Maria?" Zaria asked softly.  
"What can I do for you, Ria?"  
"Do you have any ice cream?"  
"I don't. I have some cookies though, do you want those?"  
Zaria shrugged. "Sure."  
"Alright, go ahead and sit down." Maria said as she stood and went to the counter. She returned a few minutes later with some cookies and a glass of milk, which she set down in front of Zaria. Zaria thanked her and began eating, watching Maria work at the same time.  
When she was finished, Zaria took her dirty dishes to the sink and rinsed them before putting them into the dishwasher.  
"Is it time for bed yet, Maria?" She asked.  
Maria looked up and her eyes widened as she saw the clock. "It's definitely time for bed." She said, standing up and letting Zaria lead them down the hall. Maria tucked the little girl into the bed and waited for her to hunker down in the blankets before turning off the light. Natasha had said that Zaria would be fine with the hall light on and her door opened slightly, so Maria followed those instructions, before going to sit in the living room.

* * *

"So your first day together was a success." Bruce said, smiling at the girls.  
"For the most part." Eliza confirmed before taking over with her story.

* * *

Maria heard a car pull into the driveway, and when she went outside to investigate, she saw Eliza hugging her gym coach goodbye.  
"Thank you, Marilyn." Maria said.  
"Don't worry about it, Maria."  
"How was she?"  
"Oh, you know. She was running around, throwing chalk everywhere. Distracting the younger students. Refusing to work."  
"So basically, the same as always, just truly horrible."  
"Did we expect anything else?" Marilyn asked with a smile and a wink.  
Eliza rolled her eyes and huffed in feigned annoyance.  
"You ready for bed, Liza?" Maria asked as she lifted Eliza off the ground and onto her hip.  
"Yeah." The 6-year-old mumbled.  
Maria nodded to Marilyn in thanks once more before waiting for the car to leave the driveway. When she was gone, Maria carried Eliza back to the house and down the hall to what had become Eliza's unofficial bedroom.  
"Eliza, gotta wake up. Time to put pajamas on. Your dad even packed your nightgown."  
"Don't want it. Want plaid." Eliza said, waiving her hand in the general direction of the pajama drawer.  
Maria laughed softly as she laid Eliza on the bed and grabbed the requested pajamas. Eliza was too tired to move, so Maria changed her clothes for her and put her dirty clothes in the hamper to be washed.  
"Liza, I need to brush your hair."  
"In the morning."  
"If I don't do it now, it'll be a bird's nest in the morning."  
Eliza groaned but sat up enough for Maria to brush her hair and twist it into a loose braid.  
"Alright, Liza, now you can sleep."  
Eliza was already asleep, so Maria moved her to lay properly on the bed. When she was settled, Maria arranged the extra pillows around Eliza like a little nest, knowing the girl wouldn't be able to sleep otherwise. When she was done, Maria kissed Eliza's head before turning off the light and closing the door.  
Maria walked into her bedroom and quickly changed into her pajamas before looking at her phone. She was unsurprised to find that Phil had left a voicemail saying that he more than likely wouldn't be home that night. Maria sighed, but she really hadn't been expecting anything different.  
Instead she crawled into her bed and fell asleep.

* * *

Eliza paused in her story, and grabbed some of the food Tony had gotten up to get a few minutes before.  
"So if your guys' first day was fine, when did it go bad?" Steve asked.  
"About two weeks in." Eliza said quietly.  
Zaria cut in. "It was totally my fault. We missed our parents, and I said some things I shouldn't have..."

* * *

Zaria and Eliza waved to their parents as the Skype call cut off. When the screen went blank, the sighed and set the computer on the coffee table and turned back to the cartoon on TV. When one of the characters arrived to family dinner, Zaria sighed.  
"I miss Mama." She said to no one in particular.  
Eliza nodded. "I miss Papa." She replied in the same voice.  
"Oh, please." Zaria scoffed.  
"What?" Eliza asked, confused.  
"He's not even your father. It doesn't count."  
"What are you talking about?" Eliza asked. They'd been getting along fairly well, which made this comment make even less sense.  
"Mama told me. I assumed you knew. I'll tell you anyways. Birdbrain isn't actually your dad. He blew up the town you used to live in. He killed your mom and then he felt guilty so he raised you. He's the reason you don't have a family."  
Zaria's words caused Eliza's eyes to fill with tears. She saw Maria come down the hallway, but Eliza was focused on finding a way out of the room, because she was determined not to let Zaria see her cry. Clint had already told her this, she knew the reason her uncle was raising her. But she also knew that while he still felt guilty over what he had done, it didn't really play a big part in why he didn't give her to someone else to raise. He had decided to raise her because he knew no one else would be able to love her as much as he could, and he needed to make sure that a little piece of his brother survived. After all, Barney hadn't been all bad. When they were younger, Barney had repeatedly taken beatings meant for Clint, often resulting in serious injuries. But Barney had never once complained. That was the part of his brother Clint saw in Eliza, and that was the part he wanted to make sure survived.  
"Your precious '_Papa_' killed your family. He doesn't actually love you." Zaria sneered when she knew she'd regained Eliza's undivided attention.  
Eliza jumped up from the couch and bolted down the hallway, dodging Maria when she tried to stop her. Zaria opened her mouth to say something else, but as soon as Maria heard Eliza's door slam, she cut her off.  
"Zaria. Who told you that?"  
"Mama. She said she and Clint talked, and he told her."  
Maria nodded before coming to sit next to Zaria. She picked up the computer and called Clint on Skype. When he answered, Maria told him vaguely what had happened and asked for permission to fill Zaria in on the bits she didn't know. After receiving his ok, and Natasha's ok for Zaria to hear it, Maria logged off and turned to face Zaria.  
As she went through the events as Clint had told her shortly after he came to SHIELD, Maria saw Zaria's face change. When she mentioned Clint being Eliza's uncle, and that he'd only killed her father after Barney had left him for dead two years prior, Zaria finally seemed to grasp how wrong she'd been.  
"There's a reason Eliza acts how she does, why she's so quiet, why she doesn't want to get rid of her bunny. She's had so much ripped away from her, her home, her parents. She clings to the little stability she has left. There's a reason she demands to be on the hellicarrier when Clint gets back from a mission, even if he's video chatting her from the jet. She needs to see for herself that things won't change, that she'll still have a father at the end of the day."  
Zaria nodded. Suddenly, Eliza's bunny didn't seem quite so childish. She stood to go apologize, but Maria stopped her. "Give her some time. She won't be ready to talk to you for a while."  
Zaria nodded and sat back down. She knew what it was like to have your life change. Except, she really didn't. Not to the extent Eliza did. Zaria had been in a fairly safe bubble until she was 5, whereas Eliza's hometown had been destroyed because Clint's boss didn't believe that Barney was dead, and wanted to get back at him for a dispute from years before. Zaria still had her mother, and she was fairly certain her father was somewhere out in the world, but both Eliza's birth parents were gone. So while it was true that Clint was more of a father than Barney ever could have been, the fact that Zaria's parents were both out there, even if she didn't know where one was, was yet another thing Zaria had that Eliza didn't.

The rest of the day, Eliza spent in her room, refusing to come out for any reason. Maria brought her dinner, but ended up eating in the kitchen with Zaria. By the time their parents were expected home, Zaria was worried. More so than she'd ever thought she would be for Eliza.  
That night, Maria got a call from Phil that the mission was done, but that Barton had a few cracked ribs and was in surgery for internal bleeding. The next morning, Maria told them, and Zaria watched as Eliza slowly started to break down. When they got in Maria's SUV and headed to HQ, Eliza held her bunny tightly, breathing in the little bit of Clint's scent that remained.  
When they arrived, all the junior agents knew to get out of Eliza's way as she ran through the halls to medical where she found Phil waiting for them. He tried to hug her but she struggled until Phil pointed her in the direction of Clint's room. When she burst throughout the door, she saw he father lying in the bed, tubes everywhere. She heard the sound of the heart monitor and knew was alive, but he still looked all wrong. Eliza suddenly realized she was on the floor when she felt a gentle hand on he cheek. She flinched slightly and looked up, meeting the green eyes of her father's partner.  
"He'll be ok, Eliza. He'll be sore, but he'll be ok." Natasha whispered as she lifted Eliza from the ground and carried her to Clint's bed. Natasha set her on Clint's good side and watched as she curled into her father's side. With one last small smile, Natasha turned and left the room, instantly swallowed in a hug by her daughter.  
Eliza heard the voices from outside, heard Zaria's excitement that Natasha was ok, but she couldn't be excited. Not when her father looked so breakable.

* * *

"So what happened, Legolas?" Tony asked as Eliza wiped a few tears away at the memory.  
"I was out for a few days. Maria took Liza home until I was better while Zaria and Natasha went back to their place. I woke up alone few days later."  
"You weren't alone." Eliza said.  
"True. I had a very ratty, very old bunny to keep me company." Clint said with a smile as he leaned down to kiss Eliza's head.  
"Don't knock my bunny." Eliza grumbled playfully, leaning into Clint's embrace.  
"So, what's next?" Bruce asked.  
"I think it's time we told them about Sao Paulo."  
"I don't want to hear about the mission." Eliza said, a strange look in her eye.  
"I know. We won't talk about that bit much." Natasha said, rubbling her arm in an attempt to get her to thaw out a little.  
Eliza nodded, and Zaria took a breath and began speaking.  
"It was after Sao Paulo that Liza and I really started getting along. After their first mission, I understood her better, but she didn't really want anything to do with me. She was still upset- and rightfully so- by the time they left for Sao Paulo, but by the time they were back at home, we were closer than we'd ever been..."

* * *

**So I had this chapter nearly done, close to like 5000 words I think. And what happened? Computer issues, of course. So I lost all my hard work. I had up through Maria's talk with Zaria after she talks about Clint and Eliza's pasts done, and I was really proud of it, since lots of you guys have said you wanted longer chapters. So I had to start completely from scratch. Which of course means this isn't nearly as good as it was, partly because I changed some things because I didn't want to rewrite them. I may go back and add more detail- like the actual conversation between Maria and Zaria- assuming I can remember them. But for now, hopefully this is good enough and you guys like it.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry for the slow update! I'm trying to update this very quickly, but this is an important chapter, and I needed to make sure it was exactly how I wanted it. Thanks so much for the reviews and favorites and follows, they mean so much to me.**

* * *

The year and a half following Clint and Natasha's first mission as partners didn't see many things change. They still went on missions, with the number of their solo missions decreasing while the number of partner missions- but only with each other, they didn't trust anyone else enough to be partnered with them- increased.  
Eliza and Zaria turned 7 and started 2nd grade, and had ended up in the same class at school. While this would have been a problem before, Zaria's new understanding of why Eliza clung so tightly to Clint made her able to tolerate the other girl more.  
That really was the only difference in the Barton and Romanoff families.  
Zaria and Eliza got along better than they had before Clint and Natasha's first mission. Of course, they didn't get along well by any stretch of the imagination. In actuality, they spent less time together, while at the same time spending more time at Maria and Phil's house.  
While Zaria had changed the way she interacted with Eliza, Eliza wasn't ready to forgive what Eliza had said to her, not that anyone blamed her. It had always been her fear that Clint had only kept her because he felt guilty, and Zaria had used that against her. So when Natasha and Clint were sent to the far corners of the earth, and Eliza and Zaria were made to stay with Maria and Phil, Eliza made herself as scarce as possible. She spent as much time at the gym as she could, since Andrea had moved away, leaving her with no one else's house to seek refuge at.  
When both girls were at Maria and Phil's house at the same time, Eliza tended to stay in her room for the majority of her time, choosing only to come out for meals, where she spoke as little to Zaria as possible.  
The only time the two girls really interacted was at school, simply because Eliza was too shy to make friends, and Zaria either scared the other kids away or decided she didn't even want to try getting to know them. So the two girls spent recesses together, typically sitting as high as they could in the tallest tree, not saying a word, other than to let the other know if the bell rang.

All this changed, however, when Clint and Natasha left for Sao Paulo.  
"Liza! Ria! Let's go!" Natasha called up the stairs.  
Two seconds later, Zaria came running down and gave her mother a hug before going out to the car to make sure Clint didn't leave anything important behind.  
Eliza was a few seconds behind Zaria, and Natasha could tell something was up with her. In the 3 years since Clint and Natasha had become partners, they'd made an effort to get to know each other's kid, and by now, Zaria considered Clint her father and Eliza considered Natasha her mother.  
"What's wrong, Little Bird?" Natasha asked in Russian, a language she'd insisted on teaching Eliza.  
"Nothing." Eliza replied, keeping her eyes on the ground.  
Natasha stopped Eliza and knelt in front of her, lifting her head with her hands. "Eliza, I can tell something is bothering you. Please tell me?"  
Eliza searched Natasha's eyes for a moment before sighing and nodding. "I just have this feeling."  
"What kind of a feeling?"  
"I feel like something is going to go wrong, and Papa is going to get hurt."  
"Don't be absurd, Liza. It's a simple observe and eliminate. Clint's only going to be really busy for a day."  
Eliza thought over Natasha's words and nodded finally, accepting her reply. "Ok. Just please make sure he's ok? I can't lose him."  
Natasha's features softened. "I know, Liza. I'll do everything I can to make sure you never do."  
Eliza nodded once more, and wrapped her arms around Natasha's neck. Natasha pressed a kiss to Eliza's cheek and carried her out to the car, where Zaria and Clint were already waiting. After Eliza and Natasha got settled, Clint put the car in gear and turned to look at the kids in the back seat.  
"You two have everything?"  
"Yes." Zaria replied while Eliza nodded, holding her bunny tightly.  
"Alright then. Let's blow this popsicle stand." Clint said cheerfully.  
"I still don't understand that." Natasha murmured, and Zaria seemed to agree.  
"It's a classic American line, Tasha. Back me up, Liza-girl."  
Eliza giggled. "I don't know about classic, Papa."  
"You're ruing my game, kid." Clint joked, shooting his daughter a smile.  
"Eyes on the road, Hawkboy." Zaria called from the backseat, causing Eliza and Natasha to laugh.  
"Tasha, control your child!" Clint exclaimed.  
"I've been trying for years, Birdbrain. It just never seems to stick."

* * *

"I'm sorry, hold on." Steve said.  
"What now, Capsicle?" Tony asked.  
"It's just- Zaria's comment. It was extremely rude. Why is that ok?"  
"This isn't the '40's, Steve. Kids joke around with their parents. It happens and it's fine. It makes otherwise boring events semi-manageable." Natasha said.  
Steve nodded, but he looked skeptical. When no one else spoke, Zaria continued.

* * *

They finally arrived at Phil and Maria's hose and piled out of the car. After ensuring that all the luggage was out of the car, Clint and Natasha said goodbye.  
"Будьте добры, Ria. Пожалуйста, не имею в виду. Я позвоню тебе, когда я получаю шанс, хорошо?" Natasha murmured._ 'Be good, Ria. Please don't be mean. I'll call you when I get a chance, ok?'_  
"I will, Mama. I love you."  
Natasha hugged her daughter tightly. "I love you too, Zaria."

"You sure you'll be ok, Liza?"  
"I'm sure Papa. Miss. Alison said I can stay at the gym as long as I need to, and Miss. Marilyn might come by and visit."  
"That's not what I meant." Clint said softly.  
"I know. I swear I'll be fine. Just, please, Papa, please be careful."  
"I'll do my best, Liza. You know that."  
Eliza nodded and wrapped her arms around Clint's neck as tightly as she could. Clint hugged her back and lifted her slightly off the ground, placing a kiss on her head.  
"I love you, crazy girl. I'll see you when I get home."  
"I love you too, Birdbrain."  
Clint laughed and gave his daughter one last kiss before going to give Zaria a hug while Natasha hugged Eliza.  
"I'll look after him, Liza. I promise."  
Eliza nodded. "Thank you, Tasha."  
Natasha smiled and kissed Eliza's head before standing and heading to the door where Clint was waiting. After a final round of goodbyes, they left.

As soon as the car was out of the driveway, Eliza grabbed her bags and headed for her room, while Zaria watched, a sad look crossing her face. She heard a noise and watched as Maria came to stand next to her.  
"What do I do, Maria"  
"About what?"  
"Eliza. I think I want to be her friend, but she hardly looks at me. I've apologized so many times. I don't know what to do anymore."  
"You wait."  
"What?"  
"It's the most difficult step of the forgiveness process, but it's the most important. You hurt her, Ria, and she needs time to heal."  
"How much time?"  
"I can't tell you that, I don't even know if Liza can tell you. I just know that you need to give her as much time as it takes."  
"What if she never really forgives me?"  
"Oh, she will. I know Eliza, and holding emotions in for an extended period of time isn't her."  
"It's already been nearly two years." Zaria reminded her.  
"I know. But in the scheme of things, that's not really that long."  
"So I give her more time?"  
"Yes."  
"Anything else?"  
"Well, she seems to like it when you slip your cookies into her lunch."  
"She doesn't know that's me though."  
"Oh, she does."  
"What? How?"  
"Her father is Hawkeye. You don't think he's taught her a few things over the years."  
"She never said anything."  
"Does she need to?"  
"I guess not."  
"Alright then. Go unpack. You can watch TV until I take Eliza to gym."  
Zaria nodded. It had become typical for her to accompany Maria to Eliza's lessons when their parents were gone. At least, until Maria managed to get some food into Eliza's system. An hour later, they were all in the car headed toward the gym, when Zaria realized she had a question for Eliza.  
"Eliza?" She asked softly.  
"Hmm?"  
"Who's Miss. Alison?"  
"My coach."  
"I thought Miss. Marilyn was your coach."  
"She got too old. Miss. Alison used to be one of her students."  
"Oh, ok."  
The rest of the ride was silent, while Zaria desperately searched her mind for something else to talk to Eliza about. The entire time she watched Eliza's practice, she was at a loss for what to say. She didn't want to force Eliza to talk, but she wanted to get to know her better.  
By the time she and Maria left, Zaria was no closer to figuring out what she could talk to Eliza about. It was weird, really, at least to Zaria. Their parents were best friends, more than that if the rumors at SHIELD were to be believed, (Zaria and Eliza didn't, their parents had always promised to tell them if their relationship changed, and they hadn't said anything yet.) and yet Zaria and Eliza were just about the furthest things from friends two people could get and still coexist in a nearly civil manner.  
When they returned to Maria's house, Zaria went to what had become her bedroom, and quickly showered in bathroom that connected her and Eliza's bedrooms and pulled on her pajamas. After brushing her hair, Zaria set out making sure she had everything organized for school the next day. While she was searching her bookshelf for an acceptable book to read during recess, she came across a Disney princess coloring book Clint had given her the year before. When she saw the book, an idea popped into her mind.  
"Maria!" She yelled as she ran down the hall, looking for the agent.  
"Zaria? What's wrong?"  
"Nothing!"  
"Then why are you yelling?"  
"I figured it out!"  
"Figured what out?"  
"What to talk to Eliza about!"  
Maria smiled. "What do you need?"  
"Colored pencils. And sticky notes."  
"Alright. Hold on a sec." Maria said as she disappeared into the study. She returned moments later with a box of 96 colored pencils, a pencil sharpener, and a pad of sticky notes.  
"Here you go." She said as Zaria took the items and turned around, racing back to her room.  
"Don't stay up too late!" Maria called after her.  
"Ok!" Zaria yelled as she closed her door.

* * *

"What was your idea?" Tony asked.  
"Well, if you'd be patient, you would have found out by now." Zaria said, exasperated.  
"Oh! Sorry."  
"Yeah, well. Pipe down." Zaria said with a smile.

* * *

Once her door was closed, Zaria carried the supplies to her desk and set them next to the coloring book, flipping through until she found a decent enough picture of Jasmine to color. She took out a piece of white paper from her backpack, and went through all the possible greens, teals, oranges, browns, golds, and blues before picking the colors that matched the real outfit and tiger perfectly. Only when she was confidant in her color selection did Zaria carefully begin coloring, taking more time and being more meticulous than she'd ever been on another picture. When she was done, she looked over the picture carefully. It was simple really, just Jasmine and Rajah, but she'd been so careful that there was no trace of color outside the lines, and ever ounce of white that should have been covered was. With a satisfied nod, she closed the book. As she was searching for a suitable bookmark to save some trouble, she stumbled upon a picture of her and Eliza.  
It had to be the only decent picture of the two of them that wasn't for some kind of holiday. It had been sometime the summer before; their parents were on a mission somewhere, and Maria had let them use her pool. They'd played and splashed, spending at least 3 hours outside. When they were finally done, they sat on the couch together and watched Tangled. Maria had walked in to let them know dinner was ready, only to find them curled up together on the couch, fast asleep. She'd pulled out her phone and snapped a picture, just as Zaria was waking up.  
Zaria's hope that that day would mark the beginning of her and Eliza's real friendship had been crushed the next day when Eliza went back to her routine of avoiding her as much as possible. Maria had noticed how sad it had made Zaria, and gave her a copy of the picture to keep.  
Zaria smiled as she remembered the day. She grabbed the picture and inserted it in the page she'd colored. Then she took a sticky note and stuck it to the front of the book, where she wrote Eliza a note:  
_Eliza-  
__I realized that I'd never asked you who your favorite princess was. I found this book in my room, and decided now was as good a time as any to figure it out. I colored a picture of my favorite, but is yours the same?  
__-Zaria  
__P.S.- Maria took this picture of us last summer. It makes me smile. Go ahead and keep it if you want._

Zaria looked over the note. It wasn't her best work, but she hoped it would do. She carefully opened her door and walked quickly down the hall to Eliza's room, where she left the coloring book on her bed. When she was done, Zaria hurried back to her room, closing the door seconds before she heard the front door open and close, and heard Eliza's voice call out to Maria that she was home. Zaria sighed in relief at having not been caught, and quickly turned off her light and climbed into bed, hoping there'd be a picture waiting for her when she woke up.

* * *

"Was there a picture?" Steve asked, enthralled by the story.  
"No." Eliza said.  
"What? Didn't you see it on your bed?" Bruce asked.  
"Of course I did."  
"So why didn't you color one back?"  
"Because, I thought she was messing with me."  
"But-"  
"That's enough, Tony. Let Zaria finish."  
"Isn't Eliza going to tell us her side?"  
"Zaria's much better at telling this part." Eliza admitted, looking down at her lap sheepishly.  
Zaria smiled at Eliza before picking her story up again.

* * *

Zaria woke up in a good mood the next morning, but it was quickly crushed when she realized that not only was there no picture, the photo from Maria wasn't anywhere to be seen either. Zaria sighed and went into the kitchen to eat breakfast.  
"Hey, Ria. How'd your plan work?" Maria asked.  
"It didn't."  
"Are you sure?"  
"Yeah. I thought it would work, but there was nothing this morning."  
"Well, maybe she was tired. Give it a few days. I'm sure something will happen."  
"I hope so." Zaria said quietly as she ate her cereal. When she was done she went to brush her teeth before Eliza woke up to shower. She looked at the clock on the counter and saw that Eliza would be up by now and went to open the door that led to her room, letting her know she could use the bathroom. When she opened the door, Eliza was standing in front of it, raising her hand to knock.  
"Oh, sorry." Zaria mumbled.  
"It's fine. Are you done?" Eliza asked nicely.  
Zaria nodded and turned to walk away. When she returned to her bedroom, she shut the bathroom door and fought back her tears. Before she'd turned around, she'd seen the coloring book on the floor, with the picture still in place.  
Zaria dressed quickly and went to sit on the couch with Maria while she read the paper.  
When Zaria entered the room, Maria looked up and noticed her expression.  
"What's up?"  
"The book was on the floor."  
"What book?"  
"The book with the picture I spent nearly an hour coloring perfectly!" Zaria exclaimed.  
"Oh. Are you sure?"  
"Yeah. it was just lying on the floor. Not even on the table."  
Maria held her arms open and Zaria sat next to her to lean into the embrace.  
"I'm sorry, Ria."  
"It's not your fault. I'm the one who messed up."  
They sat in silence for a little while longer. Zaria had a question to ask Maria, but didn't know if she wanted to know the answer. When she heard Eliza's shower cut off, she made up her mind.  
"Maria?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Will it be worth it?"  
"Will what be worth it?"  
"If I get her to finally forgive me, and we become friends. Will it be worth all this?"  
"Normally I'd say don't know. But with you two, I think it will be. I think if you two are friends, you'll be best friends forever." Maria said confidently.  
Zaria nodded but didn't say anything else. 5 minutes later, Eliza emerged dressed for the day with her brush in hand. Zaria shifted off the couch so Eliza could sit while Maria brushed and braided Eliza's hair. When she was done, Eliza grabbed an apple from the kitchen, and started eating it while the three of them headed out to the car.  
The ride to school was just as quiet as the ride to the gym, and Zaria fought her tears the whole way. When they arrived, Zaria and Eliza sat down by their lineup and both started reading, ignoring each other and the kids around them.

The day passed slowly, and Zaria fought the urge to cry on multiple occasions when it seemed like Eliza was going to say something to her, but ended up staying silent. When they broke for morning recess, a realization hit Zaria.  
"Eliza!" She said excitedly.  
"What?" Eliza replied in a bored voice.  
Zaria fought to keep the sadness out of her tone when she replied. "Our parents come home tonight!"  
Eliza paused for a moment and finally nodded. That was the extent of their conversation for the school day, aside from when Eliza let Zaria know the bell had rung at the end of recess, and when Zaria reciprocated at the end of lunch.  
They went straight from school to the gym, and for the first time, Zaria asked Maria if she could leave early. Maria agreed, somewhat surprised. She didn't try to force Zaria to tell her what was wrong, but she didn't really need to. When Zaria got to Maria's house, she found the chocolate bar her mom had put in her duffle bag and broke a piece off. She'd been doing it every night before she brushed her teeth, going off the advice her mother had once given her, that chocolate fixed everything.  
"Guess you were wrong this time, Mama." Zaria whispered as she finished the chocolate and threw the wrapper away. Zaria knew she had math homework to do, but she couldn't make herself care enough to get it done. instead, she sat on the couch and watched Spongebob until it was late enough for her to go to bed.  
When Maria came in to check on her after she returned with Eliza, Zaria pretended to be asleep, all the while listening for some sign that her mom had finished early and would pick her up that night.

Zaria must have fallen asleep, because sometime later, Maria was shaking her awake.  
"Ria, you need to wake up now." Maria said urgently.  
"What?"  
"I'll explain in a moment. Right now I need you to get up and get shoes and a jacket."  
With that, Maria left her room, and Zaria could hear her waking Eliza up. A quick look at the clock told Eliza that it was just after 2 in the morning.  
The realization that Maria only ever woke them up at this time was if their parents were back made Zaria snap to attention and she hurried to pull on the requisite items. Only when she finished did Zaria remember that the only time they'd actually been woken in the middle of the night was the few times one or both of their parents were in medical for something more serious than stitches. That thought had Zaria bolting down the hallway to the living room where she found Maria waiting for them.

* * *

Zaria paused her story, much to the disappointment of Steve, Tony, and Bruce, who all whined at her.  
"Can I continue?" She asked, looking directly at Clint. Clint smiled at her and nodded, reaching out to hold Eliza's hand.

* * *

"Maria, who got hurt?" Zaria asked panicked.  
"I'll tell you when Eliza's here." Maria responded softly.  
Moments later, Eliza came running down the hall, her bunny held tightly in her arms.  
"It's Papa, isn't it?" She asked, tears in her eyes.  
Maria couldn't answer, didn't know how to.  
"Maria, please! What happened to Papa?!" Eliza cried.  
Finally, Maria managed to get some words out. "I don't know, Liza. Phil called 10 minutes ago and said he was in medical and that I needed to get the two of you to Medical STAT."  
Zaria nodded. Maria hadn't said anything about her mother, but she was still thinking of plenty of worst-case scenarios involving Clint in medical.  
Maria got the girls out to the car, and sped the whole way to HQ. Once the car was off, Eliza was out and running down the hall. After a moment's hesitation, Zaria took off after her, deciding that even if they weren't the best of friends, something bad could be happening, and Eliza didn't need to see it on her own.  
The two girls raced through the hallways, which were surprisingly busy for this time of night. The agents in the halls were able to see or hear the girls coming and managed to get out of their way. It was rare to see the girls around base, which meant something bad had happened, and no one wanted to prevent them from getting to their respective parent.  
Zaria was on Eliza's heels as she burst through the doors to medical. Instantly, a male nurse grabbed Eliza around the waist as she took off toward where she heard Phil's voice.  
"Let go of me!" She screamed, thrashing around in his arms. The man was so surprised that he dropped her, and Eliza went crashing to the ground. She was up in an instant, Natasha's fight training coming out. Eliza tried taking off down the hall again, only to be stopped by the same man.  
"Get off of me!" She screamed again. This time the man was ready and held her tightly, preventing her from slipping away. "PHIL! NATASHA!" Eliza cried down the hall.  
A moment later, Natasha and Phil came out of a room, both looking pale. When they saw Eliza and Zaria, they ran toward the girls, or more correctly, they ran toward Eliza.  
"What happened to him?" Eliza asked, tears pouring down her face.  
"I'm so sorry, Liza." Natasha started, speaking softly.  
Before she could get another word out, Eliza slapped her across the face, the sound echoing through the unit. Every nurse or doctor in the vicinity stopped what they were doing and stared as a little girl slapped the Black Widow.

* * *

"Whoa, Eliza. You slapped Spidey?" Tony asked, his voice showing how impressed he was.  
"She had every right to." Natasha said. "I broke a promise to her."  
"What promise?" Tony asked.  
"If you'd shut up, Zaria could tell you." Bruce said, playfully shoving Tony's shoulder. Tony huffed but didn't speak, indicating for Zaria to continue.

* * *

Before Natasha could really react to Eliza's slap, the little girl was screaming at her.  
"YOU PROMISED! YOU PROMISED YOU'D MAKE SURE HE WAS OK!"  
"I know, Liza. And I'm so sorry." Natasha said over and over. Zaria could tell she wanted to hug Eliza, but knew the action would get her much more than a slap to the face.  
"What happened, Phil?" Zaria asked softly. Eliza turned to glare at her for worrying about her father, but she saw the concern bleeding through Zaria's stance, and decided to let it go.  
"We were blown." Natasha said before Phil could say anything. "There were more men than we thought, and they followed us. I bated them into a building while Clint climbed the building opposite to take them out. About halfway up, he told me there wasn't time, and I heard him hit the ground before he started running toward the building I was in. He told me to get out and as far away as I could, so I listened. I passed him on my way out and tried to get him to go with me, but he told me he was buying time, so I kept going. After about a minute, I stopped, and I heard it."  
"Heard what?" Eliza said evenly.  
"This sound. I don't know how to describe it, other than as horrible. I ran back to where the building had been, but it was gone. I was calling Clint's name, and he didn't answer. Finally, I saw him sitting up, looking at the building. When I was next to him, he attacked me, and that's when I realized that he'd used a sonic arrow."  
"What does that mean?" Zaria asked.  
"I don't know what it'll mean in the long run, but as of 5 minutes ago, Clint couldn't hear a word. He won't speak, so we don't know if he can."  
"I want to see him." Eliza said, her voice finally under control.  
"You can't yet." Phil said, finally speaking.  
At that moment, the door to Clint's room opened and they wheeled him out on a hospital bed. He was looking around and his eyes managed to land on Eliza's, and he started thrashing around, trying to make the doctors stop moving.  
"STOP!" Eliza yelled, startling the doctors. Before anyone could stop her, she ran across the room and jumped onto Clint's bed. Instantly, Clint pulled her into his chest, burying his face in her hair.  
"So that's what he wanted." Phil said softly.  
"Makes sense." Natasha said.  
Clint held Eliza at arms length and stroked her face with his thumb, wiping away the tears that had started falling again. Eliza hugged him tightly again, hoping that if she hugged him tight enough, she'd never have to let him go.  
Suddenly, the heart monitor attached to Clint's chest flatlined. One of the doctors pried her arms from around Clint's waist and set her on the floor while he shouted to the others to 'get him to the OR.' Eliza tried running after them, but arms locked around her own. She fought against the hold, thrashing violently.  
"PAPA!" She screamed down the hall, bending over forward in her attempt to get away from the arms restraining her. "PAPA!"  
Her screams filled the hallway, and the brokenness in her voice remained like a ghost over everyone present.  
She finally stopped fighting against the arms holding her when she could no longer see her father. She slowly slid to the floor, barely aware that the person holding her went down with her. Tears were streaming down Eliza's face as she whimpered "Papa" over and over again, sounding like nothing more than a lost little girl.  
After a few minutes, she was able to calm her breathing, and it was only then that Eliza realized that Maria, Phil, and Natasha were on the other side of the hallway, which meant that Zaria was the one holding her. Her suspicions were confirmed when she turned slightly and caught sight of Zaria's bright red hair. She also was able to make out the words Zaria was whispering to her. Somehow, Zaria had managed to pick up on the song Clint sang to her when she was sad, and was singing it now. Eliza concentrated on the words, and the feeling of Zaria's hand rubbing her back like Maria did, and eventually managed to calm down enough to breathe properly.  
She and Zaria were sitting against the wall in silence, with Zaria's arms wrapped tightly around Eliza's small, shaking form. Eliza rested her head on Zaria's shoulder and closed her eyes. She must have fallen asleep, because a few moments later, Maria was gently shaking her awake. Eliza sat up, and noticed that Zaria hadn't moved from her side.  
Maria held out a water bottle, which Eliza took gratefully.  
"He's going to be in surgery for a while. They know what's wrong, and it'll take a while to fix. But it'll be easy." Maria said softly.  
Eliza nodded, too exhausted to do anything else. She finished the water, realizing that her screaming was going to make her throat very sore. When she was done, she handed the bottle back to Maria, and Zaria pulled her back onto her shoulder, where Eliza fell asleep again.

She woke up a few hours later, only to discover that Clint was still in surgery, but that he was nearly done. Zaria had fallen asleep at some point, and someone had covered them with a soft blanket. Natasha caught Eliza's eyes, and gestured for her to come closer. Eliza complied, wincing slightly as she stood up. She heard Zaria mumble something before shifting slightly, and falling into a deeper sleep. Eliza continued until she was standing in front of Natasha. Natasha reached out and laid her hand on Eliza's cheek, stroking softly.  
"How are you doing right now?" She asked softly.  
"Not good." Eliza answered honestly. She paused for a moment before continuing. "I'm sorry I hit you."  
"Don't be. You were right. I promised he'd be ok, and he's not."  
"But still-"  
"Don't worry about it, Liza. I deserved it."  
Eliza nodded and sat down by Natasha. A few minutes later, Maria entered the hallway, carrying a bag and some food. She handed Eliza an apple and another bottle of water.  
"What's in the bag?" Eliza asked.  
"Some stuff for you guys to do. I figured we'd be doing a lot of waiting. You're not going to school for the rest of the week. Zaria's missing today and tomorrow."  
Eliza nodded as Maria pulled out a puzzle book and a coloring book. Immediately, Eliza reached out for the coloring book, and the colored pencils Maria had brought. She flipped through the book until she landed on a picture of her favorite princess. She was as meticulous as Zaria had been, and when she was done, Belle had turned out perfectly, along with the single rose she was holding. Eliza grabbed the picture of her and Zaria and used it to mark the page, before closing the book. There was just enough room under Zaria's original message for her own.

_Zaria-  
__Belle has always been my favorite princess. She's sweet and caring, just like I want to be. Thank you for last night. I think I'd like to try being your friend, if you want. Just let me know.  
__-Eliza  
_When she was finished, Eliza stood and carried the book over to Zaria, and set it on the ground next to her before making her way back over to Natasha and Maria to eat her apple.

Zaria woke up not much later. She looked around sleepily for a moment, until she remembered where she was. Eliza wasn't sitting next to her, but Zaria saw a very familiar looking coloring book. She read Eliza's note and smiled before opening the book to the page that had been marked. Underneath the picture of Belle, were two words: _Thank You._ Zaria smiled as she closed the book and stood to find her mother.  
Natasha was sitting next to Maria and Eliza, talking softly. When Zaria entered, Natasha smiled at her, but didn't stop speaking. Zaria thought for a moment before going to sit next to Eliza. As soon as she was settled, Eliza leaned into her side and Zaria gave her a small hug.  
They didn't know what would happen to Clint, but they knew that- one way or another- they'd make it through it.

* * *

When Zaria paused, the room was silent. Finally, Tony spoke.  
"So, uh, Legolas, you're deaf?"  
"80% in one ear, 75% in the other." Clint replied.  
"Hearing aides?" Bruce asked.  
Clint nodded. "I can read lips too, and sign language is always nice."  
Steve and Bruce nodded.  
"SHIELD make your aides?" Tony asked.  
"Yeah."  
"How uncomfortable are they?"  
"Pretty damn uncomfortable."  
"You want me to see about making some? Super small and super comfy?" Tony asked.  
Clint shrugged. "Sure, I guess. 'f you're not busy."  
"I'll find time."  
Clint nodded and they lapsed back into silence.  
"So how long were you in the hospital?"  
"About 2 weeks. They needed to make sure everything healed properly before they fitted me for the aides."  
"It was the worst two weeks of my life." Eliza said.  
"I'm sure it was." Bruce said.  
"But we had fun running around base." Zaria said.  
"That we did." Eliza said with a smile.  
"Just what did you two get up to?" Clint asked, realizing he'd never actually learned what had happened while he was healing.  
"Oh, all sorts of things." Eliza said. "The best part was when we got paintball guns and shot all the annoying junior agents. Even Fury laughed with us..."

* * *

**There you go! I hope you guys liked this. I've gotten a few requests for longer chapters, so I hope this fulfilled that, and I'll try to continue with that from now on, it's just slightly more difficult, just because it feels like I'm rambling about things that aren't important. So let me know what you thought!**

**Just in case you guys were wondering, the picture I imagined Zaria coloring can be found here: . .html  
While the picture I imagine Eliza giving back to her can be found here: .**

Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry it's been so long! I was going to try and update this like every day, but I had a bunch of other things to do. **

* * *

"Liza, are you coming or what?" Zaria hissed.  
"Give me a second!" Eliza hissed back.  
"It's been loads of seconds! We don't have much longer before Fury walks by."  
Eliza sighed but finished zipping her backpack. "Time?" She called up softly.  
"20 seconds. Toss the backpack up here and let's get started."  
Eliza lifted her bag off the ground and tossed it up into the vent.  
"Is everything in here?" Zaria called down.  
"I've got what isn't. Budge over and let me get up."  
Eliza heard a noise as Zaria shifted over slightly. She stood up on the chair they'd been moving under the vent for the last few days- so no one got suspicious. She gave a last look around before taking a deep breath and jumping up, grabbing the edges of the vent and hanging for a second.  
"5 seconds. Get your but up or down, but don't just hang there!" Zaria whispered.  
Eliza sighed and pulled herself up into the vent, just as she heard Fury's footsteps enter the hall.  
"Move the cover!" Zaria hissed frantically as Eliza grabbed the vent cover and lowered it into place as quietly as possible.  
Fury made his way down the hall and both girls held their breath. Just when they thought they were in the clear, Fury paused directly under the vent. Eliza and Zaria shared a look, fear written on their faces.  
"I'm going to pretend that this chair is always here." Fury said softly, but they knew he was talking to them. "I just hope you were smart enough to kill the cameras."

* * *

"Wait, you mean Fury let you two crawl around in the vents?" Tony asked.  
"He lets us do a lot of things." Eliza said. "He's a real softy."  
"Are we talking about the same person?" Tony asked.  
"The exact same person." Zaria said with a smile.

* * *

As Zaria and Eliza shared another look, Fury sighed and continued down the hallway. When they were sure they were alone, Eliza and Zaria let out their breath and tried not to laugh.  
"Let's get to work." Zaria whispered before turning and making her way through the vent.  
"Mess?" Eliza asked.  
"For sure."  
They crawled through the vents in silence for a few minutes before they got to one of the largest vent openings on base- which just happened to look out over the mess hall.  
When they reached their destination, Zaria pulled off the backpack and removed the contents. After Eliza handed her some of the contents from her other bag, Zaria got into position.  
"First target?" She asked.  
"Roberts." Eliza replied. "Brown hair, brown eyes. He tried hitting on Tasha."  
Zaria nodded once, indicating she'd located the junior agent. "Locked." She murmured.  
"Go for it." Eliza replied.  
A second later there was a satisfying thunk and a high pitched girly yelp.  
"Nice one." Eliza praised as she saw the blood red paint spreading on the agent's chest.  
"Grab the other gun and let's get to work." Zaria said with a smile as she shot a junior agent who'd hit on Clint a few months before.  
Eliza pulled the other paintball gun from the bag and loaded it. She got situated next to Zaria and took aim.  
10 minutes later, most of the agents were covered in paint, many with more than one shot. And still, none of them had figured out where the paint came from.  
"That's everyone in here. Halls next?" Zaria asked.  
"Definitely." Eliza agreed and they packed up before heading to one of the more populated hallways.  
Halfway through their allotted time for the hallway, Eliza heard footsteps coming closer. She hunkered down and waited until she could see the person. The way they were walking made it so their legs were the only think she could see, but that was fine with her. One shot to the legs to knock them down, another shot when they were on the ground.  
She took the first shot, and was rewarded with a hiss.  
"What the-?" The voice asked.  
When they took a step to the side, Eliza shot again, landing a shot on their arm.  
That's when she realized her mistake.  
"Oh crap!" She whispered.  
"What?" Zaria asked.  
"I shot Tasha!"  
"You did what?"  
"I didn't know it was her! I figured she wouldn't react to the first shot, so I didn't think before shooting again!"  
"You shot my mom twice?!"  
"I can hear you two you know." Natasha said. "Move the vent cover."  
Zaria and Eliza complied and a second later Natasha was joining them in the vent.  
"Sorry, Tasha." Eliza said with a sheepish smile.  
"Don't worry about it. Just tell me you have another gun."  
"We do." Zaria said as she handed it to her mother.

* * *

"Wait. You were carrying around an extra paintball gun?"  
"In case one of ours broke." Eliza said simply.

* * *

As the day went on, nearly every agent was hit with paintballs at some point. By 5 pm that night, even Fury had been hit a few times, but Natasha, Zaria, and Eliza all swore up and down that they weren't the one to hit him.  
"Can we go see Papa now?" Eliza asked as they emerged from the vent.  
"Of course." Natasha replied as she tucked a strand of Eliza's hair behind her ear. "Let's go see if he's heard about the war on base." Natasha said with a smile.  
Zaria and Eliza put the backpacks on after packing up the guns. As the three of them made their way down the hall to the elevator, Natasha wrapped her arms around their shoulders and pulled them into her sides. As they walked off the elevator, Eliza couldn't help the smile crossing her face.  
It had been a week since Clint's accident and today was when they'd finally figure out what could be done to help him.  
When they arrived at Clint's room, Eliza threw her bag down and ran to his bedside and climbed on.  
Clint was awake and pulled her onto his lap as he gave her a hug.  
Eliza pulled back slightly and looked at him as she spoke clearly. "Hi, Papa."  
Clint smiled hugged her tightly again. He still hadn't said a word, but he was able to read Eliza, Zaria, Natasha, Maria, Phil, and Fury's lips.  
Clint raised his hands and began signing. It was slow going, since he'd only been learning for a week, but Zaria, Eliza, and Natasha were learning as well and were able to easily ascertain his meaning.  
"We didn't do much today." Zaria replied clearly.  
"Well, there was the war." Eliza said, unable to keep the smile off her face.  
Clint snapped his head over to look at Natasha, only to see her smile at him.  
"Don't torture him, Liza." She said.  
Eliza got Clint's attention and showed him the note she'd written.  
_It wasn't a real war. We paint balled the base._  
Clint sighed in relief and shook his head. Before anyone could say anything, the door opened and Clint's doctor walked in.  
"Alright, Barton." He said after acknowledging the other three people in the room.  
"Here's what we know. You lost 80% hearing in your right ear and 75% in the other. Before you get too worried, I want to be very clear that there are options. You're a very good candidate for hearing aides, so we can start looking in to that in a week or so. I want to keep you hear until then, just to keep an eye on your other injuries."  
Clint nodded his understanding  
"Alright. I'll let you guys have some time then." The doctor said with a smile before leaving.  
As soon as the door was closed, Clint was writing. When he was done, he handed the note to Natasha.  
_I don't want them._  
"Clint." Natasha sighed.  
Clint shook his head sharply.  
Eliza rested her hand on his cheek to get his attention. "Papa, please." She said.  
Clint shook his head again.  
"Papa, please. I want to hear you talk again. You haven't said a word in a week, and I miss hearing you. I want to hear you sing me to sleep again. But we both know that if you don't get the hearing aides you'll never speak again."  
Clint looked over Eliza's face, saw the tears pouring from her eyes.  
He sighed and nodded. Eliza smiled sadly at him and wrapped her arms around his neck as she buried her face in his neck.

* * *

"So you shot up the SHILED base?" Steve asked.  
"With paintballs. Much less dangerous." Zaria said.  
"Speak for yourself. You weren't shot with one of the paintballs." Natasha said.  
"Oh hush." Natasha said with a smile.  
"So you got your hearing aides. Then what happened?" Bruce asked.  
"It took a while for me to get them. My ears had to finish healing. Then it took a while for me to get used to them." Clint said.  
"Yeah, and that was a lot of fun." Eliza said sarcastically.  
"Watch it, girlie." Clint warned with a smile.  
"I'm just saying. Having to listen to you complain constantly nearly drove me crazy." Eliza said.  
"You? What about me?" Natasha asked.  
"Oh please. We both know that whenever he started complaining you would conveniently find a way to be called off somewhere else." Eliza shot back with a smile.  
"Stop it you two." Zaria laughed.  
"Please." Clint said. "We get it. I was a pain in the ass. I acted like a little girl. We've been over it again and again."  
"Can we stop being cryptic?" Tony asked. "Just tell us what happened."  
Clint sighed and nodded to Eliza.  
"Alright. Well, it eventually got to the point where I couldn't stand to be anywhere near him once he got going...

* * *

**There's the next bit. I have ideas for a few more chapters, so hopefully I'll be updating this more often. Although it's a little unlikely.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	11. Chapter 11

"Just put them in." Natasha signed to Clint.  
Clint glared at her before turning his glare back to the tiny hearing aid in his hand.  
Natasha sighed again before stepping up and ripping it out of his hand. Before Clint could do anything, Natasha stood on her toes and shoved it in Clint's ear.  
Clint winced in pain but did little else, aside from glaring at Natasha again.  
"Careful. Your face might get stuck like that." Natasha said with a smile. "Now the other one."  
Clint sighed before putting the other one in his ear. He pressed a tiny button on the first and took a deep breath. He looked around the room before his eyes landed on Eliza.  
Natasha noticed where he was looking and nudged Eliza forward slightly. She knew how important it was that the first thing Clint heard was his daughter's voice.  
Eliza took a deep breath and stepped toward her father. She thought for a moment before deciding what to say.  
"If you ever do anything like that to me again, I will never speak to you." She said menacingly.  
Clint looked shocked at first, but he quickly broke into a smile. A second later, he lifted Eliza into the air and swung her around in a circle.  
When he set her back on the ground, Clint crouched so he could look her in the eyes. He rubbed his thumbs along her cheekbones and tucked a lock of her hair behind her hair. Eliza grabbed his hand and held it against her cheek while she stared into her father's eyes.  
"Aren't you going to say anything?" She asked.  
Clint took a deep breath before nodding. "The next time you launch a paintball war on base and don't invite me will be the sorriest day of your life." He said easily.

* * *

"Whoa, Katniss. That's a little harsh." Tony said.  
Clint shrugged. "It's a thing between us." He replied while smiling at Eliza.  
Tony shrugged before gesturing for the story to continue.

* * *

Eliza smiled and flung her arms around his neck. "I love you, Papa." She whispered.  
"I love you too, Liza girl." Clint whispered back.  
When they broke the hug, Clint stood up and turned to Natasha. He made his way over to his partner while Zaria went to Eliza's side and hugged her tightly. Clint approached Natasha and pulled her into his arms.  
And then he kissed her.  
To say that Eliza and Zaria were shocked would be an understatement.  
When Clint and Natasha broke apart, they were breathing heavily. Zaria made a noise that drew both their parents' attention.  
"Would you like to explain yourselves?" Eliza asked in a patronizing tone.  
"Not particularly." Clint replied as he stuck his tongue out.  
"How long has this been going on?" Zaria asked.  
"As of now? About 2 minutes." Natasha said.  
"Are we supposed to believe that?" Eliza asked.  
"You can believe whatever you want." Clint replied.  
"So are you a thing now?" Zaria asked.  
"Yes." Clint and Natasha replied simultaneously.  
They smiled at each other before sharing another long kiss.  
Eliza and Zaria made similar choking noises.  
Clint and Natasha broke apart again before glaring at their kids.  
"Really?" Clint asked in a petulant manner.  
"If you two are doing this we need some ground rules." Zaria said.  
"Like?" Clint asked.  
"None of this kissing crap in front of us." Eliza said.  
"You can't break up." Zaria added.  
"And if you do, the two of us are going to stay best friends." Eliza said.  
"And we'll make your life hell." Zaria finished.  
"Are you demanding that we get married?" Natasha asked.  
"You don't necessarily have to get married. But you're staying together. Or you can decide now not to even try."  
Clint and Natasha shared a look before turning back to their girls.  
"Would you two mind leaving?" Clint asked.  
"What?" Zaria and Eliza asked.  
"You just said no kissing in front of you. I haven't finished kissing him yet." Natasha said while shooting a smirk at her daughter.  
"I concur. We have about 2 years to make up for." Clint said with a smile.  
Eliza made another choking noise while she tugged Zaria from the room.  
"Make good choices." Zaria called before the door closed behind them.

* * *

"So that's when you started dating?" Steve asked.  
"Yeah." Clint said.  
"Did you stick to the rules?" Tony asked.  
"They tried. But they got carried away a few times and we had to remind them." Zaria said with an evil glint in her eye.  
"That's too much information." Tony said.  
"It's not if you keep your mind out of the gutter." Eliza shot back.  
"So then what happened?"  
"The next few years went on the same. We had missions, the girls stayed with Phil and Maria. We both had trips to medical, although nothing was quite that bad."  
"When did you end up getting married?" Bruce asked.  
"You mean for real?" Natasha asked.  
"There was more than one?"  
"Just tell them both." Eliza said.  
"Alright. The first one was while we were on a mission..."

* * *

**This one is slightly shorter than the others. But I think the next one will be longer.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


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